


Opposites Attract

by RavenRose99



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2018-12-01 13:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11487744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenRose99/pseuds/RavenRose99
Summary: Avatar Lance of the Northern water tribe has mastered all but one element: Fire. His current fire bending master, Lyn, is not only a pain to be around, but according to Lance, isn't teaching him anything of value. After sneaking out of his lessons for a fire nation Festival, he bumps into his possible fire bending savior -- literally.





	1. Not The Perfect Avatar

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so this is my first time posting anything on this site so be kind to me. ^^;
> 
> I'm so in love with both these shows and after seeing all the fanart of an ATLA Voltron AU I had to write something. I've actually been working on this story for a really long time now so I hope you guy love it as much as I loved writing it. :)

 

 

Lance was not the perfect Avatar, he knew this. Well, sort of knew it. He understood that he was not as spiritually in tuned with nature as much as he should be, but he had managed to build up his ego enough to the point where it didn’t bother him. He had all but just mastered the four elements. The one that was giving him trouble was fire, but it wasn’t anything (in his mind at least) that he had to worry about.

 

He sat meditating quietly in the center of the dark room. The fire nation symbol labeled proudly in front of him, along with his elderly firebending master, propped up stiffly in front of him. The only light in the room came from a small candle which he was suppose to be steadily bending with his breath. His mentor had one just like it and was allowing the flame to rise and fall and in a controlled and relaxing pace. His eyes were closed, showing the wrinkles that creased his face around the eyes and mouth.

Lance slowly peaked one of his deep blue eyes open, peering over at the quiet old man. If he didn’t know any better, he would have assumed he was sleeping. Lance opened his other eye, and stared at him for a moment before letting out a long drawn out, hopefully silent sigh.

Taking the opportunity of his master’s shielded gaze, he slumped his shoulders, rolled his neck, then arched his back, stretching away from the stiff position. His eyes bounced around the room like a child, trying to find something of interest to distract him from his dreary task of just breathing.

He heard the soft sound of footsteps tap outside of the door, followed by two very familiar feminine voices. A fit of multiple giggles leaked through the thin walls and they were enough to perk him right up. Before they had even managed to complete a full three taps against the door, Lance was too his feet.

“I’ll get it!”

His master slowly opened his old eyes and watched Lance bolt over to the dark red door, sliding it open wildly.

“Lance? You’re still here?” The dark skinned princess asked.

“Why yes princess, isn’t that why you’re here?” He flirted, propping his arm on the door frame and leaning his weight against it. His other hand trailed down and rested itself on his hip but only after combing his thin fingers through his brown hair.

The princess, whom was known as Allura, raised a single eyebrow at him before answering, “No, I was actually here to deliver a message to your master.”

Before he knew it, the old fire bender was standing behind him, peering over Lance’s shoulder.  
“Princess Allura of the Northern water tribe, it is quite an honor.” He said without smiling, and bowed at the waist in a respectful manner. Lance found no need to bow to her. They were both from the same tribe and had practically grown up together. Besides he was the Avatar, and as he had reminded her time and time again, she should be bowing to him. (she never does)

“Master Lyn, I am sorry to intrude on your lessons.” She said with a mirroring bow at the waist.

“Not at all. Nothing productive was getting done anyhow.”

Lance caught the glare coming from out of the corner of his master’s eyes, and gulped, averting his gaze quickly.

“Do you mind if we speak in private?” She asked.

“Wait what? Private? You do mean with me too, right?” Lance asked, obviously offended by the thought of him, the Avatar, not being apart of something that sounded important.

“On the contrary, you are the last person I wish to hear this information.” The strictness in her voice, he must admit, sent a chill right down his spine, “Shay will gladly keep you company until we are finished.” She cheerfully added, and the tall shy looking girl named Shay, who had been standing slightly off to the side, smiled.

Lance looked at her, and smiled back. He actually liked Shay, and had no objection to the plan. Soon the princess entered the dark room and shut the door behind her. Lance let out a sigh and walked across the wide royal hallway, decorated in various reds, oranges and pinks. He perched himself up on one of the ledges sticking out from the dark granite wall.

“How have lessons been?” Shay asked, meandering over toward him, “I heard you’ve been struggling.”

Lance just smirked, lounging onto his back. He folded one arm behind his head while he lifted the other to snap his fingers together, letting quick spiral of air swirl around his fingertips, “I wouldn’t necessarily call it that. It’s just taking me a while.”

“Really? Hunk explained to me that last week you attempted to perform a simple breath attack, and it basically blew up in your face.”

Lance face twisted and the last spiral of air spat out of existence. He sprung up, “I- That was just a freak accident!” He protested quickly.

Shay chuckled, “Yes, one out of many.”

Lance tried to glare at her, but then just let out a sigh, dropping his arms. “Ok fine, I’m struggling.”

“I’m actually impressed with you Lance, If I were you I don’t know if I could remain this patient.”

Lance shrugged, “I’m just as surprised as you are.”

She slowly took a seat next to him, peering up at the red fire nation flag hanging over Lance’s training room, “What do you think of master Lyn anyhow? He seems...odd to me, and very quiet.”

“Oh, don’t be fooled. He may be quiet, but when he gets angry he doesn’t hold back.”

This made Shay smile again, and Lance decided to shift the mood.

“Soooooo, how’s Hunk?” Lance cooed, causing Shay to blush.

“He is fine,” She said, “We are planning to go to the festival tomorrow night.” She turned her head to face him, “Are you going?”

Lance grinned, “You know it! No way I’m missing out on that!”

“Great, I look forward to seeing you there. I heard some of your other friends will be coming as well.”

Lance’s eyes suddenly widened, “Wait what? What friends?”

Shay’s face grew pale and she quickly pressed her lips together, “I...Uh...Nothing, forget I said anything.”

Lance’s narrowed his gaze at her, pushing his face forward suspiciously, which she tried desperately to avoid looking at.

“Shay, tell me,”

She whimpered, “Oh, Hunk is going to kill me!” She buried her face in her palms.

“Oh c’mon Shay, As the Avatar I command you tell me who else is coming,”

She lifted her head with a look of defeat, “Hunk managed to invite your old friends Pidge, and Shiro to the festival. It was suppose to be a surprise.”

Lance’s face lit up, filled with pure shock and excitement. He beamed and grabbed Shay by the shoulders, “Pidge and Shiro are coming!?”

Shay’s obvious dread was evident, but she couldn’t hide the small smile trying to break through, “Yes, they will most likely arrive tomorrow afternoon. They were going to surprise you just before the festival.”

Lance burst into laughter, releasing Shay and jumping off the ledge, landing on an air scooter he made without even trying.

“Wooohooo!” He zoomed around the hallway once, flying up and down the walls and spinning through the air before landing perfectly on both feet.

“Thank you Shay! Thank you so much for telling me! That just made my day!” He turned to face her, trying to regain some composure, “And don’t worry, I will do my best to act surprised.”

She let out a small sigh of relief, “Thank you.”

Suddenly the door across from them slid back open to show Allura and master Lyn standing side by side.

“Thank you for your time, Master Lyn,” She said with a bow, which he returned. Allura then walked toward Shay and the elderly man waited in the doorway, eyeing Lance to step back inside. Before he did, he gave Shay a knowing smile followed by a wink which she chuckled at. He then shot a much more flirtatious one to Allura, who rolled her eyes and tugged at Shay’s arm to continue walking down the hallway. Lance watched them go for a moment before ducking back into the dark room.

“Sit.” The old man ordered him.

Lance took his place in front of the small flame, appearing to look completely calm and ready to continue the breathing exercise, but Lyn must have seen right through his lying exterior to the excited, giddy child underneath.

“Lessons will continue tomorrow evening. You need more time to perfect your breathing.”

At first Lance had no objection, but then it hit him that he said ‘tomorrow evening’, “Uh, wait, master, I can’t tomorrow.”

The old man paused and looked at him. His eyes looking so much more threatening with the two flames from the candles reflecting off of their glassy stare.

“The fire nation festival is tomorrow. I can’t-”

“You can and you will. You are the Avatar, and training comes before anything else.”

Lance’s eyes grew desperate, “No, You don’t understand, I can’t just-”

“Continue your breathing exercise.” Lyn said, taking a seat across from him.

Lance’s shot him a glare seeing the old man close his eyes, “Master I’ve been doing nothing but ‘breathing’ all day! I want to go out and relax once in awhile! Besides, shouldn’t the Avatar take time to experience the world around him?”

“Yes, when they have managed to pass the beginner's level of fire bending.”

Lance felt his stomach boil and he let out a shout of frustration, jumping to his feet. The small flame erupted into a large stream of fire that just barely scorched the ceiling. Master Lyn didn’t appear at all phased by this, and kept his eyes closed.

“This is stupid! I have the breathing down! If you are going to keep me cooped in this room than at least teach me something new!” And with that, Lance spun around and stormed out of the room, making sure to slam the door on his way out.


	2. The Festival

“Wow, you really said that?” Hunk asked, as he watched his student with a strong, stable stance, punch his fist into a large boulder. It went flying across the landscape into the base of a mountain where his previous attempts laid shattered on the ground.

“Of course I did! That guy has me locked up day in and day out, and the only thing I can do is still just make a small flame move a little! I don’t think it’s me at all if I’m honest. I think he’s just a lousy teacher!” Lance punched another boulder. The impact was much more violent than the one before, and it even made Hunk jump a little.

“Well maybe yelling at him isn’t the best option. It’s obvious he’s trying to help you in his own way.”

“Well it’s a dumb way!” Lance didn’t bother punching the last boulder that had been lined up for him, and instead kicked it. It slid across the ground at an amazing speed, then embedded itself into the side of the mountain. Hunk walked over to him.

“Listen, I know you’re upset, but there will be other festivals.”

“Not like this one! I haven’t seen Pidge and Shiro in forev-” He stopped himself, immediately realizing his mistake. For a quick moment he wondered if he would be able to somehow play it off, but the look on Hunk’s face prooved otherwise.

“What did you say?” Hunk asked, “Did you say Pidge and Shiro?”

“Uhh...Yes?”

Hunk groaned, “Shay told you didn’t she!”

Lance quickly waved his arms frantically, “No, no! Well I mean, yes, she did, but don’t get mad at her! I kinda drilled it out of her anyway.”

Hunk let out a heavy sigh, “So much for the surprise. Do you realize how hard it was not to tell you myself?”

Lance smiled, “I’m sure it was hell, but look at it this way, now you don’t have it weighing over you anymore!”

Hunk just gave him a look that caused Lance to chuckle nervously and clear his throat, “Well, it’s not like it matters now anyway. I won’t be there to see them.” He stomped the heel of his foot into the ground, raising a boulder up in front of him. Hunk thought for a moment before a grin spread across his face.

“What if we tried to break you out?” He asked.

Lance looked over at him. A glimmer of hope passing through his eyes, “Really?”

“I mean, I have a plan, but it’s risky.”

Lance grabbed his shoulder and started shaking him, “I don’t care, as long as it can get me out of those stupid lessons!”

Hunk simply grinned, prying Lance’s boney fingers off of him, “Okay, easy there. Shay was talking about how she and her family had been making a type of candle that’s suppose to help people sleep. Allura requested it since she’s not used to being so far away from home. What if you switch out the candles and just wait for Lyn to pass out?”

“Great!” Lance cheered, but then stopped, thinking about it more clearly, “But wait, wouldn’t I just fall asleep too?”

Hunk folded his arms, “You mean you don’t know some kind of airbending trick to...I don’t know -- keep yourself from breathing it in?”

Lance raised a brow, “Yeah, sure, I’ll just do that Hunk. I’ll just casually start breathing totally different air.”

Hunk frowned, “Your sarcasm is not appreciated right now Lance, especially when I’m trying to help you.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll figure something out.” He sighed.

“Great, I’ll drop off the candles tomorrow morning.”

 

Hunk had delivered the candles as promised, and though it was rather difficult, Lance did manage to avert (most) of the intoxicating fumes from entering his lungs. Thankfully, Lyn had fallen asleep just as Lance was starting to feel the effects of the droziness and didn’t hesitate to slip out of the room with a gentle click of the door.

Lance meandered his way through the palace, passing by the tall open windows to see the sun setting over the winding hills and hear the laughter of people rushing for the festival. He beamed out of the window, half tempted to just glide out over the roof tops with the help of some airbending, but even he wasn’t that stupid. He rushed through the dark hallways until he made it to the front doors where two men stood guard, both fully dressed in the royal fire nation attire. Lance took in their appearance, assuming they were probably new. They were chatting quietly amongst each other, and cracking a few jokes here and there. Filled with confidence, Lance straightened his stance, and marched right up to them.

“Excuse me, I need to leave the palace for the festival.” He said, trying to look as casual as possible.

The two guards exchanged looks, then peered back at Lance.

“Uh...are you...allowed?” The first man asked, fearing the unprofessional tone that lingered in his voice.

Lance’s smile just grew, “Of course, don’t you know who I am?”

The two men held clueless looks that for a split second left Lance offended, but he just cleared his throat, regaining some of his confidence, “I’m the Avatar.”

They both immediately straightened their backs, “Wait really?” One asked, sounding rather surprised, “But...how can we be sure?”

“No, wait, I think he’s telling the truth, I heard that the Avatar was suppose to be studying here this month,” The same man who was talking looked over Lance’s blue sleeveless attire, “He is suppose to be from the southern water tribe, right?”

“Northern actually.” Lance quickly corrected.

Both men seemed to stiffen even more having insulted the Avatar, and immediately stepped out of the way.

“Enjoy the festival.” They said in chorus.

Lance found it nearly impossible to hide his smirk, and stepped forward through the two doors, “Why thank you, I will.”

 

“You sure he’s coming?” The short girl wearing glasses asked, peering up at the royal palace.

“I hope so.” was all Hunk said.

“Just give him some time, I’m sure-” Shiro was cut off by a very familiar voice call out.

“SHIRO! PIDGE!”

The two figures turned in response to hearing their names only to get tackled by the Avatar himself, grinning wildly and squeezing them both tightly around the shoulders.

“Woha! Geez! Calm down! Don’t kill me before we actually have a chance to catch up!” Pidge somehow managed to wheeze out through the hug.

Lance pushed himself off of his two friends, beaming down at them. “It’s so great to see you! I can’t believe you are actually here!”

Both Shiro and Pidge sat up, smiling, “It sure has been a long time, Lance,” Shiro added.

“Woha, have you actually gained some muscle?” Pidge asked in a patronizing tone, poking at his exposed arms. Lance smacked her hands away taking playful offense.

“Of course I have, I’m the one and only Avatar. I got to look nice for the ladies.” He said with an overly proud smile.

“Oh really, like Allura?” Hunk teased.

Lance shot him an offended look, hopping to his feet, “For your information, I think she might actually be warming up to me.”

Both Shiro and Pidge quickly followed Lance’s example, getting to their feet. “Well what are we waiting for? We going to have some fun or what?” Pidge asked, her voice filled with excitement.

 

They all made their way into the festival and it seemed like the sun had disappeared within seconds. Everything was so vibrant and colorful. There were more than a few fire shows, all building up for the main attraction, which was scheduled to take place at the end. Not even Lance knew what was in store, but he couldn’t wait to find out.

Soon Allura and Shay joined them, and despite Lance’s failed attempts at flirting with the young princess, her attention kept gravitating towards the tall, dark and handsome Shiro. At one point she had actually looped her own arm through his and let him guild her around to the different shops and attractions. As you could imagine, this didn’t put Lance it the highest of places mentally, but him being him, still kept a smile plastered on his face.

At one point the two couples had broken away from the group leaving Pidge and Lance alone together, so they took the opportunity to actually talk and catch up. Each bought a small bag of fire flakes and sat down at the center of the square where a large fountain was lit up. Sparkling under the colorful lanterns hanging overhead. For those who weren’t aware of the the reality of their relationship, some might have assumed they were more than friends. The lighting was oddly romantic, but neither of them took any notice to it.

“So,” Pidge started, adjusting her glasses while Lance scooped out a large handful of fire flakes for himself, “Firebending.”

“What about it?” He asked while shoving the small handful he had just taken out of the cream colored bag into his mouth.

“How’s it going?”

Lance hesitated mid chew, which seemed to be enough time for Pidge to assume for herself what his answer was.

“Still having trouble?”

Lance forced the small bits of dry, spicy crumbs down his throat before answering, “I’m not having trouble!” He insisted.

Pidge just shot him and look that eventually caused him to sigh, “Okay...Maybe I am a little.”

“How much is ‘A little’?”

He didn’t answer.

“Fine, can you tell me what level are you on at least?”

“...Beginner.”

“Still?! Lance you were a beginner last time I saw you! How could you still be that bad?”

Lance stared at her with a painfully unamused expression, “Gee, thanks.”

“Sorry, sorry. That came out wrong.”

Lance sighed and shook his head, “No you’re right. It’s ridiculous. I seriously doubt any of my past lives were this slow at mastering an element. Maybe I’m just not cut out for fire bending.”

Pidge couldn’t hold back the snort drawn out from his comment. He shot her a quick glare. “Oh shut up!”

Pidge smiled and shook her head, “You’ll get it eventually. It’s not your fault your first element was water.”

Lance looked down at his small bag of fire flakes, suddenly not feeling hungry anymore.

“How about your earthbending, Hunk is still teaching you right?”

Lance nodded, “Yeah, and it’s fine.”

“How about air?”

“Fine.” Lance repeated.

There was a short silence before Lance broke it with a sudden jolt of panic after taking a quick glance around them. He spun his body toward Pidge, using one of his arms to shield the left side of his face. Pidge drew her brows together, staring at him.

“What are you-”

“Shush! My firebending master is here!” He hissed.

Pidge looked over his shoulder to see an elderly man scanning the crowd with a strict expressionless face.

“So?” She asked, looking back at him.

“So? I was suppose to be locked in with him practicing my breathing! I had to smuggle myself out, that’s why I was late!”

Pidge just stared at him for a prolonged moment before speaking, “And you wonder why you are still at a beginners level?”

Lance frantically shushed her again, pushing at her shoulder to direct her away from the fountain, following close behind. Both ducked behind one of the tall red tents.

“What am I going to do?” Lance cried, peeking out at the threatening looking man from around the side of the tent.

Pidge looked at him, then peered around her. She caught sight of a dark red cloak hanging out from a small opening in the tent. She quickly reached in and grabbed it, tossing it over Lance’s head and shoulders, “Here,” She said, also grabbing a mask resting on the table next to it and pressing it against his chest.

“You aren’t seriously-”

“Do you wanna get dragged back to your lessons or not?”

He hesitated before sighing, “No.” He groaned.

“Then put it on.” She ordered, and peeked back out into the crowd while Lance slipped the mask on over his face.

With little warning, Pidge grabbed his arm, and started to drag him back into the crowd, “We just need to find the others and try to avoid him for the rest of the night,” She said.

Lance groaned at the thought, “Woohoo.”

After winding their way through the crowd they thought they were in the clear, but just as they were passing by a large, vibrant looking tent, they both nearly ran into three guards standing a few feet ahead of them who were quickly approached by Lyn. In a frantic attempt to keep Lance hidden, Pidge shoved him into the large tent. He let out a yell, stumbling through the thin fabric. He felt his back bump into another human figure before both bodies fell, Lance landing painfully on his back. He groaned, gingerly rubbing at his tail bone.

“What the-”

Lance turned his head to see a young man about his age with pitch black hair and deep violet eyes laying a few feet away from him. He was shirtless with bright colorful paint slathered across his chest in a very beautiful and elaborate pattern. His pants were rather dull in comparison. They were just a dark shade of red. He was also barefoot, and after taking a quick look around the tent, Lance came to the realization that he had stumbled into a circus tent, and that this young man must have been one of the performers.

“Oh uh...I uh-” He was cut off by the sound of Pidge desperately pleading with a few of the guards outside before the fabric parted, showing Master Lyn’s glaring face. Lance froze staring up at him through the mask. To his relief, the old man didn’t seem to recognize him.

“Have either of you seen the Avatar wander through here?” He asked, his eyes aimed at both Lance and the dark haired boy.

The young man squinted for a second, then his eyes darted over to Lance who gave him a somewhat pleading look through the mask. The young man hesitated, took a look back to Lyn, then pulled himself to his feet before holding out his arm out to Lance, who hesitated a moment before taking it.

“No, we’ve just been practicing all evening,” The black haired boy said, giving Lance’s arm a short tug, yanking him to his feet “I think we would have noticed if the Avatar visited.” He finished, letting go of Lance’s arm and turning back to the old firebender.

Lyn seemed a little suspicious at first, but then eventually appeared pleased with his answer. Both Pidge and Lance felt their shoulders drop in relief when Lyn turned to leave, but before he exited completely, he stopped. His small eyes darted back around and homed in on the boys face.

“...Keith?”

The young man’s body seemed to tense up a bit, but then hardened his expression, “Yes?”

Lyn walked over toward him, taking in his entire physique, “My, my, it certainly has been a while. What on earth are you doing here?”

Lance blinked, cautiously standing off to the side from the two of them, fearing his master might recognize his thin limbs at a closer inspection, but thankfully the old man’s attention seemed to be fully directed on the dark haired boy.

“I live and work here.” The young man Lyn referred to as Keith answered coldly. Lyn narrowed his eyes at him.

“You’re kidding. You mean you actually became a circus freak?”

Lance turned his head to face master Lyn, his lips parting in shock. He had never heard him address anyone that way. It was cold, harsh, and patronizing, but Keith didn’t seem to back down at all.

“Yes.” He answered plainly.

“But you had such promise. Do you really plan to just throw away your talents in this pathetic place?”

Keith didn’t answer with words. He just glared at Lyn for a lingering moment before slowly passing over to the tent flap Lyn had entered through, and held it open for him.

“I hope you come see the show tonight.” He said, staring the old firebender down with his cold, dark eyes.

Lyn straightened his stance to a more professional and almost royal stature. He then made his way over to the opening. He stopped before walking out, giving Keith one last look.

“I suppose I should have known you would give up and sink this low. It’s just who you are.” And with that, Master Lyn walked out.

Lance and Pidge exchanged one last look before one of the guards started to lead her away and Keith let the flap fall between them. His dark eyes lingered on the fabric of the tent for a while longer before turning to Lance.

Lance immediately tore off the mask, “I can’t believe he talked to you like that!”

Keith stared at his face for half a second before he folded his arms across his bare chest, “You’re the Avatar, aren’t you.”

Lance tried let out a chuckle and extended his hands out in an introductory manner. “Ta da~” he sang. Keith’s expression didn’t change.

“So, Lyn is your firebending master?”

Lance nodded with a groan, “Yeah. Hate every minute of it.”

Keith nodded in agreement, “I did too.”

“So...You were one of his ex-students?”

Keith nodded, letting his arms drop to his side, “Hated every minute of it.” He walked passed him over to a rack where there was a collection of staffs, knives, and other dangerous looking props. Keith grabbed one of the long staffs, spinning it around his wrist once, “Why is he looking for you?” He asked casually.

It was only after he had asked the question that Lance realized he had been staring. He blinked, pulling himself out of the dazed state he had sunken into while looking over Keith’s bareback.

“Oh, I kinda snuck out of his lesson he had planned for tonight.”

Keith turned around, looking mildly surprised, “The Avatar ditched his lessons?”

“Yes, yes he did.” Lance said, folding his arms, “And I am not ashamed of it in the least.”

For half a second, Keith looked like he wanted to smile, but held a serious and down to earth expression. “Right, well you can’t stay here. We’re going to go on in a bit and if someone were to find you here-”

“I would tell them that my good buddy Keith let me in because he wanted to show me what the heck that thing is!” Lance said with a distracted grin, pointing to the large golden staff standing apart from the others. He rushed over to it, and Keith followed him with his eyes. Lance ogled the beautiful looking item that was so elegantly decorated with gold and silver flames surrounding a red dragon that ran all around the metal instrument. The craftsmanship was unsurpassable. He reached out to touch it, but Keith’s hand beat him to it, quickly pulling it out of reach.

“Leave.” Keith ordered, his voice growing impatient.

“Not before you tell me what that is.” Lance said stubbornly.

“It’s a staff,” He answered plainly.

“Uh, yeah, I can see that. I mean what do you use it for in the show?”

Keith gently rested it back where it belonged, “We use it for special fire displays.”

Lance’s eyes lit up, “Can you show me?!”

Keith stared at him for a moment, obviously growing steadily more annoyed, “No.”

“Oh c’mon! Just one trick!”

“Are you sure they picked the right guy when searching for the Avatar?”

Lance gasped, taking overly exaggerated offense. He clenched at his chest dramatically, “How could you say something like that! I’ll have you know I am a very well balanced Avatar. Besides everyone loves me.” he finished with a smile.

“Even, Master Lyn?”

Lance blew out a puff of air, waving his hand as if he were trying to swat a fly, “Ok, only people that aren’t total sticks in the mud love me.”

Keith let out a sigh, “Can you leave now?”

“Nope.” Was all Lance gave as an answer, cracking a cocky smirk after seeing Keith’s anger flare behind his eyes. He then groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Ok, how about this. I’ll make a deal with you.”

“Ooo, striking a deal with the Avatar? Bold move.”

Keith ignored his egotistical comment, and continued with his proposal, “If you can figure out how this works, and attempt to use it, I won’t only show you a real trick, but I’ll let you hide out here until the end of the show.”

At first Lance was pleasantly surprised by how simple the deal sounded and grinned confidently, “Pfft, easy!” He turned back to the staff, taking it carefully in his hands. He looked over the beautiful item, and it was then that he saw the small smirk spreading across Keith’s face. Lance tried to ignore him, taking another long look at the prop. He turned it, peered down either end of the long tube to see if their was perhaps some kind of opening to shoot fire into. His confidence was slowly diminishing. The more he observed the staff, the more complex it appeared to be, and on top of that, he remembered how little he could actually manage to perform any sort of firebending...


	3. Fire

Keith kicked him out of the tent after many failed attempts by Lance to try and figure out the staff. He stumbled out, caught himself, then spun around to glare at the now closed tent flap. He was starting to wonder if Keith had rigged it somehow so Lance would purposefully fail. He stuck his tongue out at the tent before turning around to search for Pidge. Seeing no sight of her round glasses among the crowd, he assumed she had left to find the others and decided to do the same. After a few minutes of useless meandering through the crowd, he eventually caught sight of Shay and Hunk, who were having a meal at one of the small food tents. He grinned at the unpassable opportunity for some fun and slipped the mask back over his face. He carefully snuck up behind Shay, and with a loud burst of noise, screamed while raising his arms in the air. Both of she and Hunk let out a shriek, practically leaping from their seats. Their eyes turned and locked on him just as he broke out in immense laughter.

 

“Lance!” Hunk shouted.

 

Lance lifted the mask and grinned innocently at the lovely couple, “Aw, how did you know it was me~?”

 

Hunk just glared at him, but Shay seemed pleasantly amused and began to chuckle.

 

“Why are you wearing that get up anyway?” Hunk asked, eyes still glaring.

 

Lance took a seat next to him, pushing the mask back so it rested on his head like a hat, “Well...Lyn kinda woke up and is looking for me.”

 

Hunk’s anger shifted to dread, “Here?”

 

“Where else would he be Hunk?” Lance asked with a thick tone of sarcasm.

 

His built earthbending master cranked his neck around to peer into the crowd before turning back to Lance, “Has he spotted you yet?”

 

Lance shook his head, “No, not yet. Pidge managed to keep me covered before she just decided to run off,” Lance sighed, then continued, “but there’s no telling how much longer before we run into each other.”

 

Hunk nodded in agreement, “Plus if he doesn’t find you in the next ten minutes, he’ll most likely have the royal guard hunt you down.”

 

Lance let out a groan, dropping his head on the table knowing full well that was probably true.

 

“Hey, look on the bright side, you still have ten minutes.” Hunk teased, patting his student on the back. Lance lifted his head and gave him a painfully unamused look.

 

“But I have to stay Hunk, I need to figure out what that staff does,” Lance stated, resting his chin on his folded forearms, which were lying lazily on the table.

 

“Uh...Staff?” Shay asked.

 

“Yeah, you know the last show that’s supposed to happen later tonight? Well they are going to use this really cool looking staff thing for one of their fire displays.”

 

“How do you even know this?” Hunk asked, raising a single brow.

 

“Long story that involves a hot circus performer.”

 

Hunk just stared at him, opened his mouth as if about to say something, but then closed it and just shook his head.

 

“Well I’m sure we can keep you hidden from your master long enough until the show.” Shay said.

 

Lance smiled, “Thanks, Shay,” His eyes drifted over to Hunk, “You have a really nice girlfriend, how come you get so lucky?”

 

Shay blushed shyly and let out a giggle. Hunk blushed a little as well, and just playfully smacked Lance’s shoulder.

 

“Lance! There you are!”

 

Lance looked up to see Pidge running over toward the three of them with Shiro and Allura close behind. He frantically pulled the mask down over his face again, and waved his arms at them.

 

“Pidge! Shush! I’m a wanted criminal!”

 

All three of them stopped in front of the table, “Relax, I haven’t seen Lyn once since he left the tent.”

 

“Exactly! He’s waiting for the perfect moment to strike!”

 

Pidge just rolled her eyes, “Well, now that we’re all back together,” She started, “We should make the most of it, at least before our ‘wanted criminal’ here is taken away.”

 

The evening seemed to just fly by and with no sight of the dreaded master Lyn. Before they knew it, people were piling into the large circus tent set up at the center of the estate. Lance was the first to rush over, not bothering to pull down the mask.

 

“Come on! We have to get good seats!”

 

“What are you, five?” Pidge asked with a smirk. Lance just rolled his eyes at her and stuck out his tongue, which he soon realized probably just proved her point.

 

All six of them found some seats rather far back, but it was high enough to see the entire arena. Lance’s eyes darted around, pretending like he was looking at the decorative colors and elaborate circus set ups, but in reality, he was looking for Keith’s black hair.

 

“You okay?” Hunk asked, seeing Lance’s jumpy and excited behavior.

 

    “Just pumped, is all.”

 

    Soon the lights died down and a hush ran over the crowd. Lance’s eager blue eyes peered down at the ‘stage’, and a tall white haired man dressed in fire nation attire stepped forward with arms open.

 

    “Welcome! Welcome!”

 

For some reason the crowd cheered at this, and with a toothy grin, the man waved his hands at everyone to quiet them down, “We have a spectacular show for you all tonight! Prepare to be amazed by our frightening animals, daring acts, and breathtaking fire performances!”

 

    Lance clapped along with the crowd, sticking his pinkies between his lips to push out a high pitch whistle, causing Pidge, who was sitting directly next to him, to wince and rub her ear.

 

Throughout the night, Lance watched as people attempted to tame tigers, bears, and other deadly animals that appeared to be rather feral for circus animals. There was one animal act that seemed noticeably uneasy. One lion with red paint coating it’s fur had been the last animal to be called out and appeared to be losing control while the middle aged man holding a fire whip gradually looked more and more nervous. Lance saw this immediately and turned to the others. “You think they need help?” He asked.

 

    “I’m sure they are used to this sort of thing,” Shiro chimed in, “I mean, they are a circu-” He was cut off by the Lion letting out a roar and swinging its massive paw at the trainer. The man stumbled backward and his fire whip dispersed into the air. The crowd gasped, and stared in anticipation as the man began scrambling back. He looked to be saying some words to the wild beast, trying to calm it down.

 

    “Still think they have it under control?” Lance asked, looking back over to Shiro, who now held a similar expression of concern.

 

    The lion let out another roar, pulling Lance’s attention back to the arena. It was moving closer, growling and showing off its sharp, deadly teeth. Then it lunged at the man, whom was still on the ground. He let out a scream and started to scramble away frantically. At first, it looked like he wasn’t going to make out of the lions reach in time, but just before it’s sharp claws closed that gap between them, a dark haired boy around Lance’s age came out of nowhere, jumping in between the lion and the man, pushing the animal back. Lance’s eyes widened, homing in on him. It was Keith. He was still wearing the same pants and body paint from before, though it looked like it had been touched on since they had bumped into each other.

 

Keith glared at the Lion, creating a whip out of fire, and snapping it at the lion. Lance felt his heart start beating faster finding it impossible to look away. Once seeing Keith, the lion snarled, growling at him. Keith looked completely focused as he started circling the animal, and in response, the lion mirrored his slow pace.

 

    “Woha! Do you think that was suppose to happen?” Pidge asked.

 

    “I seriously doubt it.” Hunk said.

 

    The lion roared at Keith and made a movement to pounce at him, but Keith snapped the whip again. The lion backed down a little, face still glaring at him.

 

    “Good kitty…” Keith mumbled.

 

 

    Lance was on the edge of his seat, staring with anticipation. The lion jumped at Keith, completely dismissing his whip. Keith staggered and fell onto his back. The lion’s paws pressed down on his bare chest, but as it started to push the air out of his lungs, Keith opened his mouth and let out a bust of fire straight into the animal's face. It jumped back, roaring. It wasn’t burnt, but definitely disoriented now. Keith immediately rolled onto his feet and lit both of his hands on fire. He ran at the lion and using his bending, practically encased the lion in a dome of fire. I roared, but began to shrink into itself. Keith got closer and closer, then, once the animal was on the ground, Keith let the fire dissipate and placed his hands on the lions thick red fur. It was breathing heavily but no longer trying to kill him. Keith lowered down to it’s level, hands still entangled in the animal's fur, and he looked like he was whispering to it, calming it down even more.

 

    “Wow, did he seriously just do that?” Hunk practically yelled.

 

    “No way!” Pidge added.

 

    Lance was still just staring, jaw hanging open. The crowd suddenly broke into a loud cheer, but Keith didn’t turn to them. His eyes were still locked on the heavily breathing lion. Lance watched as he slowly started to pet it, still whispering. Some women came out of nowhere and threw some kind of rope around the lion’s paws and neck. It growled, starting to thrash around a little. The white haired man from before pulled Keith away to speak to him directly while the women pulled the animal off stage. With the crowd still cheering so wildly, no one could hear what Keith was saying back when he started to yell at the white haired man. The man just seemed to respond sternly back to him and Keith eventually backed down. Though he still looked tense and angry.

 

    “Guess that really wasn’t suppose to happen.” Shiro said.

 

    “Yeah, this is one crazy show so far, don’t you think Lance?” Pidge asked, turning her head to look at him. He didn’t seem to hear her, still staring down at Keith. “Lance?...Laaance?” She waved her hand infront of his eyes, which snapped him out of whatever trance he had sunken into. He blinked and looked over at her.

 

    “What?”

 

    “Pretty exciting so far, don’t you think?”

 

    “Oh,” He nodded, pulling a smile, “Yeah, really awesome!”

 

   

    Keith didn’t appear again until the very end when he and three other young firebenders stepped out into the center of the circus’s stage. They all had similar outfits and body/face paint. Some of Keith’s paint was noticeably smudged from his wrestle with the lion.

 

    “Hey, look who's back.” Pidge cheered.

 

    Lance couldn’t help but smile, excited to see him again. He felt some heat slightly rise up to his cheeks after taking another second to really observe his appearance. Even from all the way in the back, he looked incredibly sexy.

 

    “Uh Lance...are you blushing?”

 

    Lance jumped and jerked his head around to see everyone looking at him. If he was blushing it was much worse now. “What? No! It’s probably just really hot or something, why would I be blushing anyway??”

 

    Pidge blinked a few times then lifted her hands in a defensive manner, “Ok, ok, calm down. Maybe it’s just the lighting in here.”

 

    The sound of a gong rang through the tent and they all turned their attention back down to the stage. While standing in formation, each of the three firebenders took a stable stance and created their own circle made up of fire. They allowed the flames to flicker for a few seconds before each threw their arms up. The circles stretched up into three long streaks of light that merged into a large fiery orb hovering above them. While it burned, the three performers began to do some kind of athletic dance that involved some of the props Lance had seen earlier that night. First, they each grabbed staffs and began spinning them around their bodies, all the while lining up in a triangular formation. They then started walking in rhythm with the beating drums that had begun sounding after the gong rang. Still moving in line with each other, they each tossed the staffs up to their respective partner, who caught it, flipped it once in the air so that the ends could graze the burning orb of fire and come back down lit. Each then tossed their staff back in the air again.

    Pidge let out a laugh of amazement, and Hunk started clapping excitedly along with a large handful of other people in the crowd. Lance kept his eyes pinned on Keith as his body moved around the flames so naturally. He looked so focused yet like he wasn’t even trying.

 

    Soon, after another series of flourishing dance movements, two of the benders handed their burning staffs to Keith, who took them and began to practically juggle them while they went to get sharp looking curved blades. They lit the handles on fire and started to flare them, tossing them to each other like it was no big deal. Keith eventually stabbed all three staffs into the ground and walked off, letting the other two encapture the audience's interest.

    Lance felt a small tug in his chest seeing Keith leave, but the dancing flames managed to distract him long enough for the dark haired firebender to return with the beautifully decorated and mysterious metal staff Lance had been obsessing over before. Lance grinned, tugging at Pidge’s sleeve.

 

    “That’s it! That’s what I was telling you about!”

 

    “Woha, what the-”

 

    “No way!” Allura gasped, seeing the staff.

 

    “Do you know what that is?” Lance asked eagerly.

 

    She grinned like an excited child, and nodded, “Oh yes! I’ve only seen one used once!”

 

    “What does it do?”

 

    She turned to him, growing a small smirk, “What? And spoil the surprise?”

 

    Lance grumbled, and turned back to look at Keith, who had made his way onto a platform at the center of the stage. His two partners stopped their sword fighting, and fell to their knees, as if bowing. Lance watched, squinting his eyes as Keith, with the staff in hand, twisted one of the ends and pressing down on the fire insignia at the base of the staff, heating it up with his fire bending. Steam began to weep from the cracks and the dragon design began to glow. He lifted the staff to his mouth, pressed his lips against it, took in a deep breath, then let it out. The dragon began glowing a pure gold before fire shot out of the other end of the staff. Some of the audience in the crowd ducked, scared they would get burned, but the stream of fire just turned and began flying around on its own. Slowly, it started to shape itself into a dragon. Lance’s eyes went wide with pure amazement. He couldn’t believe it. The dragon roared and began circling over the crowd.

 

    “Wow! No way!” Hunk yelled.

 

    “Is he seriously bending the fire to look like that?!” Pidge asked.

 

    Allura nodded, “Yes! Only _very_ talented firebenders are able to pull this kind of stunt off! Plus there are only very few of those staffs actually made anymore,”

 

    The dragon swooped down close to them and Lance had to duck out of the way, even though he knew it probably wouldn’t have burnt him. He laughed, watching it soar around the crowd one more time, before coiling up at the center of the stage, right above Keith. It gave one more roar before dispersing into the air like a firework. The crowd went wild, and Lance jumped up from his seat and began clapping. Keith jumped down from the podium and stood beside his two other performers, who all bowed.

 

Lance cupped his hands around his mouth and called out, “Woohoo! Go Keith!”

 

Keith straightened his spine with the other two firebenders and peered around the crowd, obviously hearing his name. Lance grinned, then placed his fingers in between his lips, blowing out a high pitched whistle, waving his free arm high above him. Keith’s eyes found and locked onto him with a look of surprise, but eventually his face broke into a smile, and he just shook his head.


	4. Red and Blue

_One. Two. Three. Four. Five...Six….Seven….Eigh-_

Lance gave up. He stumbled from his handstand onto his back and laid their, allowing the blood to rush down from his head. When he opened his eyes he saw his master glaring down at him, just barely blocking the hot sun with his thin, angular head.

“Get up. You still have ninety-two more to go.”

Lyn had assigned Lance to do one-hundred erect push-ups while under the scorching heat of the afternoon sun. Lance used his airbending to lift himself up off his back into a sitting position, “Look, I said sorry! Do I really have to do this?”

“You disobeyed a direct order from me. You are lucky I am only making you do this.”

Lance let out a huff of air, dropping his head and shoulders in defeat.

“Get back to it.” Lyn ordered.

Sighing, Lance extended his arms back out and rolled his body up over his head.

_Nine. Ten. Eleven…_

Lance heard the courtyard gate squeak open, and saw his master’s feet turn to face whomever it was. He paused, surprised, then spoke.

“Well, well. Have you come to try and continue your lessons?” There was a sarcastic tone to his voice that was honestly pissing Lance off, and it wasn’t even directed toward him. There was a long silence before the second voice broke out.

“No, I have just come to deliver a message.”

_Fourtee-_ Wait wha _-!_

Lance immediately lost his balance and fell. He groaned grabbing his head, then quickly spun around. Yup, it was Keith. His black mullet hung loosely, flaring out at the bottom. He was wearing a casual looking outfit made up of browns and dark reds. His violet eyes turned and looked down at him. It was definitely one of Lance’s more awkward moments, but Lyn didn’t hesitate to turn and snap at him.

“Keep going!” He spat.

Lance shot him a quick glare and was about to continue, but Keith spoke up, “Actually, the message if for the Avatar.”

Lance looked back as Keith pulled out a small scroll. He then hopped to his feet with the help of some airbending and walked over, taking it from Keith curiously. Lyn held a look of annoyance, and Lance decided to drill it into him even more.

“Um, this is offical Avatar business that doesn’t concern you.”

Lance relished in the twisted expression of anger that arose in Lyn’s face. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Keith fighting back a smile. Lyn straightened his stance, folded his arms together, then turned to leave them alone. Lance smirked, and began to unroll the colorful parchment. Keith leaned in a little.

“It really isn’t that important.” He whispered.

“Shh, I don’t care. Any excuse to make him look like that, I’ll take.” Keith chuckled, and nodded in agreement.

Looking over the scroll, Lance realized it was a circus invitation.

“Our circus master wanted you to have this, and hoped you enjoyed the show last night.” Keith said.

Lance smiled, “Oh did I? It was incredible!” He rolled the paper back up, “Plus, now I know what that fancy staff thing does.”

Keith snickered, rubbing the back of his neck, “Yeah,”

“But seriously, are you like the only one that can do that? My friend told me only really powerful benders can pull it off.”

Keith hesitated, looking Lance over, then peered over his shoulder at Lyn, who looked more than a little impatient. He directed his gaze back on Lance, “This isn’t exactly an ‘official Avatar business’ topic.”

Lance sighed, “I don’t care.”

“Are you stalling?” Keith asked, with a small smile.

Lance hesitated, scratching the back of his head, “Well...uh...maybe a little?”

Keith smirked then bowed at the waist, “Thank you for your time Avatar, I will leave you to your lessons.”

He turned and started walking, “No wait!” Lance grabbed at his arm, “At least answer my question before I walk to my death!” He pleaded.

Keith gave him a look of amusement and sighed, “Yeah, I’m the only one out of our circus group that can do that.”

Lance grinned, “That’s so cool.” He said, letting go of his arm. He then started to impersonate Lyn by stiffening his stance and folding his arms together, “I now give you my permission to go back to your little band of sexy misfits.”

This pulled a full out laugh from Keith, drawing Lyn’s attention over to them with a suspicious glance. Keith saw this, quickly pressed his lips together and cleared his throat.

“Thank you Avatar-” He lingered on the word, waiting for a name to follow.

“Lance.”

Keith gave him a long look then smiled, bowing again, “Avatar Lance. It was an annoying honor to meet you.”

Lance didn’t like how final he sounded, “Wait, you guys are staying in town for a few days aren’t you?”

Keith shook his head, “No, we’re packing up tonight and moving out tomorrow morning.”

Lance loosened his stiff stance and grew a slightly saddened expression, “Oh. Right.” He scratched the back of his head again, “I guess goodbye then?”

Keith nodded, “Yeah.”

Lance looked down at the invitation in his hand and tried to smile, “Well I mean, There is always this.” He held up the scroll and Keith smiled with another nod. He then turned, walked back through the gate then waved to Lance before walking off down the path, leaving the royal courtyard. Lance returned the wave, then let his arm drop to his side. He let out a long, dreary sigh.

“Such a waste of talent.”

Lance turned to see Lyn standing right behind him, watching the dark haired firebender go. He wasn’t sure why, but Lance had the sudden urge to defend him.

“What are you talking about? He was amazing last night during the show!”

Lyn just scoffed, “That entire circus is a waste of time if you ask me. Now, get back to your exercises.”

Lance glared at the back of Lyn’s head as he walked of into the shade, where he sat to apparently meditate. Lance sighed, then looked down at the invitation in his hand. He gave a small smile before shoving it into one of his pockets, and proceeding to complete one-hundred erect push-ups.

 

Lance flopped down on his bed with a huge sigh of relief. His arms felt like two lumps of lead.

“Congratulations Lance, you just spent the entire day with your firebending teacher without practicing any firebending.” he said to himself, glaring at the ceiling.

He closed his eyes and sighed, propping himself up against the back of the bed. He then turned to look out the wide window a few feet away from him. The moonlight was pouring in and laid itself across him like a blanket. He stared out, seeing the remains of the festival being taken down. He bent up one of his legs so he could rest his chin on his knee.

I wonder how Keith managed to get so good with a teacher like that. He thought.

Thinking of Keith drew his attention to the pocket he had shoved the invitation into. He reached in and pulled it out. It was crumbled a little at the edges due to his work out. He unrolled it and peered over the decorative text again. Suddenly an idea sprang to his mind.

“How about I just ask him.” He said aloud, with a grin. He put the parchment into one of his bedside table drawers and quickly hopped to his feet but almost immediately fell back down, “...Wow, I’m weaker than I thought.” He tried again, this time slower. He stretched his back, then peered back out of his window. He walked over to it and looked out over the many rooftops lining around the palace. He gave a grin, taking a few steps back. He rolled his shoulders, cranking his neck side to side, then bolted forward, leaping out of the window. Just before landing on one of the rooftops, he spun his body and created an air scooter under his feet. It allowed him to glide easily across the many red roofs until he was able to land on the ground without gracefully. Once he had planted his feet, he grinned triumphantly.  
“Lance, you are amazing.” He whispered to himself, before he started into a jog.

 

He peaked around one of the few remaining tents to see most of the shops and other attractions from the festival had already been taken down. A few people were working on the main circus tent not too far in front of him. He scanned the faces, trying to see is any of them were Keith.

“Ok, now bring her down!” One woman called out while a handful of others who were holding ropes tied to the tent started to pull. The ten slowly started to float down, folding in on itself, “Good job, now just get this and the others packed up then you all can turn in for the night.”

As the tent completely deflated, he saw Keith’s dark features peek out from the other side as he began to help fold the tent. He had his hair pulled back and was wearing a dark red sleeveless shirt that really showed off his biceps. Lance sighed to himself as he watched him work with the other circus performers.

He waited until most of the others turned in before he attempted to catch Keith alone. He watched as dark haired firebender pulled away from the main group and started toward the circus carts. Lance followed cautiously close behind, still trying to sneak in case he ran into someone more official. He followed Keith to one of the larger carts that had a red roaring lion painted on its side. Keith looked around as if making sure no one was looking before sliding open a small hatch on the the cart.

“Hey, Red.” He whispered into the cart.

Lance heard the hushed growl from the Lion, followed by Keith’s whispering. He then watched Keith reach into his pocket and pull out a ring of keys. Lance decided this was the best moment to make his presence known.

“Planning to take your cat out for a midnight stroll?”

Keith jumped, dropping the keys and spun around. He seemed slightly relieved to see it was only Lance, but he still began stuttering nervously when he spoke.

“What? No I-I was just-”

“Don’t No I-I was just me, It’s really obvious what you’re trying to do.”

Keith sighed, bending over to scoop up the keys, “Look, they treat her horribly here. She doesn’t deserve this.”

Lance walked over and peered into the cage to see the lion laying on her stomach, looking sick and depressed. It lifted it’s head a little and growled.

“You sure letting her out is the best idea?”

“I’ve got people waiting not too far from here that agreed to take her some place where she would be safe and comfortable.”

Lance raised a brow, “Do you trust them?”

Keith hesitated, then looked back at Red before sighing, “No, but it’s her only chance to get out of here.”

Lance thought for a moment, then smiled, “Okay, how about this. I’ll make a deal with you.”

Keith couldn’t help but smirk, “What? You mean striking a deal with the Avatar? I couldn’t possibly.”

“Hey, don’t get smart when I’m trying to help you.”

Keith lifted his hands, “Okay, okay. What’s your deal?”

“I help you pull this off in exchange for lessons.”

Keith blinked a few times, “...You’re joking right?”

“Do I look like I’m joking.”

Keith just shrugged, “I’ve only seen you a total of three times. That’s hardly enough time to deduce personal body language.”

Lance sighed, “I’m serious. You are a great firebender.”

“But what about Lyn?”

“Okay, he literally had been doing push-ups, sit-ups and squats all day today.”

“Gee, really? wonder way.” Keith said sarcastically.

“What did I say about getting smart?” Lance threatened.

Keith sighed, “Look, I’m sure you think this might be an easy way to get away from Lyn, but I’ve never tried to teach anyone before.”

“Oh come on, You can’t be any worse than master ‘breath until you pass out’. Besides, you need my help too.”

Keith shrugged, “I don’t really need-”

“I will be able to know if you’re ‘guys’ are legit, and make sure Red here gets transported safely.”

“How?” Keith asked raising a brow.

Lance smiled, “An Avatar has his ways.”

Keith stared at him for a moment longer, before his eyes drifted back over to the lion layin within the cage. He let out a heavy, drawn out sigh, “Alright. It’s a deal.”

 

Lance and Keith silently managed to smuggle the lion out of the cart and lead her away until they ran into a man and a woman at the far end of fire lord's estate. They were dressed in earth kingdom attire and held uneasy stares. The woman took one look at the lion and and smiled.

“So, this is her?”

Keith nodded silently. The man’s gaze drifted over to land on Lance, “Who’s that?” He asked.

“This is the Avatar.” Keith answered.

“The Avatar?” The woman practically yelled, “but, won’t he turn us in?”

Lance quickly shook his head, “No, no, I’m on your side. I’m just here to make sure you stick to your promise of transporting her safely.”

The two of them stared at Lance for a moment then exchanged looks among each other. Eventually the woman stepped forward, and gave a respectful bow to Lance.

“You have nothing to fear Avatar. We are going to take her to Ba Sing Se where one of the largest zoos in the world is located. You are more than welcome to come and visit in a month's time to make sure she is safe and well looked after.”

Lance felt no irregular vibrations in her pulse to indicate she was lying. Once feeling convinced she was truthful, he gave her a small smile, bowing back, “Thank you.” He then looked over at Keith, who still seemed hesitant to give up his tight grip on the leash. “It’s okay, they are telling the truth.”

Keith looked at him, then sighed. His dark eyes lifted to meet the woman’s gaze, “Mind if I take a second to say goodbye?”

She nodded, taking half a step back. Keith knelt down, gently taking the lion’s head in his hands,  
stroking over its soft fur, “Be good. I’ll visit you as soon as I can.”

Lance could hear the hushed pur vibrating from the animal's throat. It nuzzled up against Keith’s neck and cheek, taking the opportunity to lick his face. Keith smiled, closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers. Eventually Keith stood back up and handed the leash over to the woman.

“Don’t worry. We will take good care of her.”

Keith just gave a small nod, his eyes still on the lion. With one more goodbye between the four of them, the couple hauled the lion up into a cart and left. Keith was quiet and just stared until it was out of sight.

“Thank you.” He finally said, “She really needed to get out of there.”

“No problem,” Lance said, “after all, I am suppose to be in tuned with nature.”

Keith smiled.

“...So,” Lance said after another long silence, “Now that that’s all said and done, when do we start?”

Keith gave a small sigh, “Are you sure you want me as your teacher? I mean, I’m apart of a traveling circus, plus you already have-”

“Woha woha woha, hold it right there! Don’t tell me you’re trying to back out of our deal!” Lance said sternly. “You made a bargain with the Avatar remember? You aren’t allowed to back out now.”

Keith pinched the bridge of his nose, then sighed again, “Fine, fine. But tell me,oh great Avatar, how is this even going to work?”

Lance grinned, “Already gotta plan. I’ll ‘stay’ with master Lyn, but I’ll make continuous visits to your shows. Then whenever I show up, you’ll teach me some stuff.”

Keith just stared at him for a minute with a completely unamused face, “No seriously, how are we going to do this?”

“Dude I am serious!”

“There is no way that is going to work.” Keith started to walk back toward the estate and Lance quickly followed.

“Sure it will. You stay in town for a few days whenever you have a show right?”

“Yeah, but I normally spend those days rehearsing and practicing for the actual show.” He shot back at him, not bothering to stop his march.

“Surely you don’t rehearse all day. Plus you’re a fire performer! You can probably teach me stuff while you’re practicing!” This caused Keith to stop walking. He had a fair point. Lance ran forward, turning to stand in front of him, “It will work, don’t worry.”

Keith stared at Lance for a long moment, as if debating with himself on the idea. He looked at the ground for half a second, then gave in, “Alright fine. We’ll give it a shot.”

“Yes!” Lance cheered triumphantly, jumping high into the air.

Keith started walking again, “Lucky for you our next show isn’t all that far from here. It’s a little fire nation town a few miles off.”

Lance started after him again, “Sweet, I’ll be there!”

“And if you’re not, I’m going to assume Lyn caught you trying to sneak out of another lesson or something, and if that happens the deal is off.”

“But-” Lance started to get worried, seeing as that was a possibility, but he quickly shook the thought away, “Doesn’t matter, cause that’s not going to happen.”

Eventually they made it back to what was left of the circus. Keith turned to Lance with a smirk, “Thank’s for walking me home, but I think I can take it from here.”

“Sure you don’t want me to tuck you into bed too?” Lance teased.

Keith rolled his eyes, “If I’m gonna be your master, you aren’t allowed to talk to me like that.”

Lance stiffened his stance, and gave an overly dramatic bow, “Oh, why of course Master Keith, please accept my apologies.”

When Lance looked back up at him, he managed to catch his soft and amused smile.

“You better get out of here. If anyone see’s you people might think you’re the thief that stole Red when they find out tomorrow.”

“Well, I mean, I kinda am.”

Keith shrugged, “It was a team effort.”

Lance smiled, “Well, goodnight master, I look forward to our time together.”

Keith seemed to shudder a little when Lance said master, “That sounds so weird.”

“Well get used to it master.”

“Now you’re just trying to annoy me.”

“What? No of course not master. I would never wish to annoy my master.”

Keith rolled his eyes and turned toward a small tent and walked inside.

“Goodnight Lance.”

“What? No goodnight hug and kiss?”

“I said goodnight Lance.”

Lance stood there for a second longer than was necessary, smiling. Eventually he bowed to the closed tent flap and said “Goodnight master.” then rushed off back to the palace.


	5. The First Lesson

“Did you hear? One of the circus’s lions was stolen!” Hunk said, looking over a news flier he had while Lance practiced his earth bending. Lance almost lost his balance and nearly screwed up a simple punch into a large boulder.

“Oh...Really?” He asked, quickly correcting himself to complete the move.

“Yeah. They found out this morning, so the thief must have taken her in the night.”

“Wow...Crazy.” Lance quickly tried to complete a series of earthbending movements hoping to distract Hunk from the nervous tone in his voice. It seemed to work because Hunk continued.

“Yeah, think it was the same lion that went psycho at the show?”

“Seems like a definite possibility.” Lance said with a small smile.

Hunk hummed and set the paper down turning his attention back to Lance, “Hey, you okay. You seem a bit off today.”

“Sorry, probably just the after effects of Lyn’s punishment.” Lance said, deciding to take a break and sit down beside his earthbending teacher.

“That bad huh?” Lance nodded, rubbing his forehead. “That’s fine. I think you can afford to take a break from earthbending practice.”

Lance beamed at him, “You are my favorite teacher, you know that right?”

“I have an inkling.” Hunk smirked.

Lance thought for a moment, wondering whether it was safe to bring up his lessons with Keith,  
but the risk of Lyn finding out scared him enough to resort to more subtle methods, “So, did you like the fire show at the festival?”

Hunk grinned, “Oh yeah, it was great. Almost made me jealous I wasn’t born a fire bender.”

“Wanna go back for another performance with me?”

Hunk turned to him curiously, “Hm?”

“I got a special invitation to go to their next show. I figure with me being the Avatar I could sneak a friend in.”

Hunk smirked, “You really know how to milk the whole ‘Avatar’ thing don’t you.”

“Only when it matters.” Lance chuckled.

Hunk laughed a little too, then pulled a thoughtful face before answering, “I don’t see the harm in checking out another show. When is it?”

“End of this week was what it said on the flier...but,” Lance hesitated for half a second, “We should probably go a few days early.”

Hunk gave him a look, “Few days early? Why?”

Lance frantically scrambled through his brain, looking for a plausible reason. “Because…” He started slowly, “It might be packed. They are a big organization you know.”

“Well, yeah I suppose, but a few days? It’s not like a few day’s will guarantee us good seats.”

“Yeah I know, but I just wanna be ready, you know?” Lance wasn’t even buying his own pitiful lie.

“Are you just trying to take a break from Lyn?”

Lance looked at him for a second, then immediately nodded, “Yes! That’s exactly what it is! Please, I just need a few days away from his constant nagging!”

Hunk laughed when Lance fell to his knees and locked his fingers together, pleading like a beggar. Hunk placed his hand on his student's shoulder and nodded, “Alright, alright, I’ll say I’m taking you away for some extra earthbending practice.”

“Oh thank you!” Lance hollered, wrapping his thin arms around the built mans neck.

“But-” He pulled Lance off of him, “only if you pick up our lunch.”

Lance smiled, giving a salute, “On it!” and with that, he sprinted off to go pick up two bowls of  
rice, excited of the fact that not only would he be practicing with Keith in less than a week, but he would have a few extra days with him to practice.

 

The the few days of his routine dull training passed by in the blink of an eye. Lyn had been just as tolerable as ever. He had finally chosen to try to teach Lance some more advanced firebending techniques, but when he attempted them and failed it was back to the breathing exercise, which as you could guess just aggravated Lance even further.

 

He was shoving some extra clothing into his watertribe satchel and then reached into his drawer, pulling out the invitation. He looked it over one more time, smiled, then shoved it into the bag as well. There came a tap at his door. He turned to see Hunk standing in the doorway, smiling.

“Almost ready?”

Lance pulled the leather strap over his shoulder, and nodded, “Hell yeah!”

Hunk chuckled, and the two of them walked out of his room down the long hallways of the royal fire lord's palace.

“Don’t you think you should check in with Lyn before we leave?” Hunk asked.

Lance cringed at the sound of his name, “No, I don’t-”

“Lance!”

Both froze, and Lance groaned. It was master Lyn’s voice charging up behind them. “Look’s like he has other plans.” Hunk said with a sympathising smile. Lance gave him a frown, then turned to meet Lyn’s gaze as he walked up with his stiff posture.

“I heard about your little escapade. You do realize this will put you even further behind in your firebending schedule.”

Lance sighed, “Honestly master Lyn, no offense, but I think this will actually help me.”

Lyn gave him an annoyingly skeptical look, but eventually lifted his chin, “Very well, at least take these.” He reached into his robes and pulled out three thick wax candles. He held them out to Lance who just stared at them for half a second before reluctantly reaching out to take them. “I want all of those completely burnt out by the time you return. Is that understood?”

Lance glared down at the candles then rolled his eyes, tossing them into his bag, “Yes, master Lyn.”

“Good,” He then turned to direct his gaze at Hunk, “Please take some time from playing with pebbles to make sure he completes this.”

Lance’s face twisted and he was half tempted to just punch Lyn in the gut right then and there, but Hunk rested his hand on Lance’s shoulder, politely smiled at Lyn, and bowed. “I will.”

Lyn returned the bow, then started walking back the way he came. Once he was out of earshot, Lance let his mouth rip.

“I can’t believe he just said that to you! He has no right to patronize earthbending!”

“Lance, it’s alright. He’s just old fashioned.”

“Yeah, an old fashioned ass hole! You know, I didn’t realize how much of a prick he was until Keith showed up!”

Hunk turned and looked at him, “Keith? Who’s Keith?”

Lance froze, face going slightly red, “Oh, uh…” Lance let out a small chuckle, “He’s uh, that one performer who fought the lion at the show. He’s also the one that delivered my invitation.”

“Oh?...and you two are on a first name basis?”

Lance hesitated, “...Yes.”

There was an awkward silence that Hunk mercifully ended with a shrug, “Alright then.” He then turned and started walking, “You’ll have to introduce me sometime.”

Lance followed him with his eyes for a second before letting out a relieved sigh, and followed.

 

They reached the town three days before the actual show was due to open. Hunk had paid their way into a five star inn which Lance was more than a little thankful for. He flopped down on the bed, and sighed with a smile. “Ah, this is the life.” Hunk just smirked, unpacking some of his clothes to put in the drawers. Lance didn’t even bother with that, just tossing his bag at the foot of the bed. He waited for half a second, then jumped up, “Ok, I’m going to take a look around.”

“What, already?” Hunk asked, raising a brow, “We literally just got here.”

“Why waste time?” Lance said, looking at him from the door, “I’ll meet you back here in time for dinner, okay?”

“Uh...Yeah, okay.”

Lance smiled, winked, then shut the door. Hunk just stared at the closed door for half a second, then shrugged, turning back to his unpacking.

 

Lance meandered through the town, looking through the multiple shops and food places. He knew he should probably have waited until dinner, but his stomach was yearning for something. He found a small food stand and picked up a small spiced meat shish kabob, and chewed away at it contently. As he turned from the meat cart, his eyes caught sight of the familiar, brightly colored tent. He grinned and started to make his way over toward it.

Sneaking his way into one of the tents was much easier than he thought. Not many people were there, just a few scattered performers practicing their respective skill. His eyes searched for the dark haired firebender eagerly.

“Hey, What are you doing here? We don’t open for another three days!”

Lance jumped, almost choking on a spicey chunk of chicken and spun around. Standing behind him was a really large, buff man dressed in casual wear that somehow was more threatening than any other kind of circus uniform he could have been wearing. Lance gulped down the meat he had been chewing, then put on a brave face.

“I’m looking for Keith, you know him?”

He squinted his eyes at Lance before folding his arms, “I might. Why do you wanna see him? You his boyfriend or something?”

“No I- Wait what? NO!” The heat rushed up to Lance’s cheeks, “I’m just a friend, and I need to talk to him.”

The man hesitated then eventually pointed his thumb over his shoulder, “He’s out back practicing his act.”

“Thank you,” Lance said, tearing another piece of meat from the thin stick, eyes hard on the man. He then started in the direction he said Keith was located.

Passing through the tent back outside, he saw a lot more circus people walking around and talking amongst each other. Many small red tents were standing up all around the main one, which Lance assumed were their ‘rooms’. He walked a little further through the grassy field until he saw a familiar face. Keith was flipping a small staff with two other performers, tossing them back and forth just like they had at their last performance. Lance grinned and started over to him. He had his hair pulled back and was wearing casual clothing.

“Hey, looking good.” Lance called out.

Keith jumped, turned to face Lance, allowing a staff to fall from the air and knock him in the back of the head. He winced, grabbing at the spot. Lance winced a little as well, walking closer.

“Sorry.” He said.

Keith lifted his eyes to face Lance, “What are you doing here?”

“Oh don’t tell me you forgot our deal already.” Lance said, folding his arms after taking another tear at his shish kabob.

Keith stared at him for half a second, “No, I just…” He turned to his two partners who looked confused, “Uh, let’s take a break, okay?”

One of them shrugged, “Yeah, fine.” They each tossed their staffs to Keith who caught them, then walked off, probably to get some food. Keith leaned the staffs up against one of the tents then directed his attention back to Lance.

“I didn’t expect to see you this early.”

“What are you talking about, It’s been almost two weeks.” Lance said.

“Lance, it’s only been like four days.”

“It felt longer okay.”

Keith sighed “The show doesn’t open until-”

“Yeah, yeah, but I figured if I showed up early we would have more quality time together.” Lance said, resting one of his elbows casually on Keith’s shoulders.

“...And by quality time you mean training, right?”

“Uh yeah, what else would I mean?”

Keith just rolled his eyes and let the topic drop, “Okay, so I’m guessing you want some lessons now?”

“Well you are on break.” Lance said with a smile, pulling the last bit of spicy meat off of the stick with his teeth.

“Okay, fine. Follow me.” Keith started off in a direction and Lance quickly followed. He brought him to a large, cream colored tent that he took a second to peak into before entering, “Great, no one’s here.”

Lance walked in after him, and looked around to see that nothing much filled the interior except a few chests pushed up into the corners and three dummies posted in the center. “Is this like, some kind of training tent?”

Keith shrugged, “More or less.”

“Cool.” Lance said with a small smile.

“Alright, so first, I guess we should figure out where you are with your bending so far.” Keith took a few steps away from him, “Show me any amount of fire you can create.”

Lance nodded, taking a stance. He closed his eyes, took a breath, opened them again, then quickly punched out his fist. There was a small flame the spat to life before immediately dying. Lance stared at the empty air then let out a nervous chuckle, bringing his arms back down to his sides.

“That’s...It?”

“Hey, don’t patronize me! You’re suppose to be my teacher!”

“Yeah but,” Keith paused for a second, “I kinda assumed you knew more than that...How long have you been with Lyn?”

Lance sighed, “Long enough to the point where it’s become embarrassing.”

Keith looked at him for half a second then started toward one of the chests, “Ok, I have an idea.” He knelt down, opening it up. Lance rushed over and tried to peer past his shoulder.

“You still have weak flames because you're bending itself is weak.”

“Wow, mind blown” Lance said sarcastically.

Keith stood up, pulling out a ceremonial looking tube. It had ribbons and other decorative things plastered to it. Lance raised a brow. “Uh...What’s that?”

“Normally it’s used for important events. Like a coming of age ceremony or something.”

Lance stared back at the tube, “And uh...How is it going to help me firebend?”

Keith turned the tube so one end faced Lance and the other faced him, “It’s used to pass flames back and forth. I figure if we exchange flames for a while, yours will become stronger. Think of it like a work out for your bending.”

Lance seemed surprised, and pleasantly so. It sounded legit enough to work, “But, master Lyn always made me do those breathing exercises, isn’t that the same thing.”

“Well yeah, but on a much smaller scale. It’s like getting strong enough to lift a ten pound weight but constantly only practicing with five pounds. Sure it’s a good exercise, but it’s not making you any stronger.”

Lance blinked, “Wait, so Lyn has actually been holding me back??”

Keith shrugged, “Probably. He most likely doesn’t even realize he’s doing it. He just assumes you still need the five pound weight.”

Lance wasn’t sure whether to be thrilled or pissed. He’s actually been ready to move on this whole time, but Lyn was just too blind to see it!

“Come on, let’s give this a try.” Keith said, interrupting Lance’s train of thought.

“Yeah, okay.”

Keith hung the tube up on a hook dangling from the tent, then adjusted it so it was a straight line between him and Lance, “You throw the first flame, then I’ll throw it back.” Lance nodded, and took a breath. He threw his arm forward, sending a small flame through the tube. Keith caught it easily and sent it back. Lance tried to catch it, but the flame died in his hand.

“Ugh!” Lance tightened his hand into a frustrated fist.

“Hey, calm down. It’s your first try. Let’s go again.”

Lance nodded, took another breath and sent a second flame through the tube.


	6. He's Just Pretty

Lance stumbled into the hotel room, immediately finding his bed and collapsing into it’s sweet embrace. He practically purred feeling it’s soft, warm kiss against his entire body. He hugged onto the fluffy pillow, burying his head into it. Though he was thoroughly exhausted, he was also filled with joy. He had managed to fire bend, and not only that, he felt like he was really improving. Just thinking about him shooting a well collected flame through that ceremonial tube enthused him enough to sit upright on his bed, and conjure up a small flame in his palm. He smiled, seeing it last a whole three seconds longer than it normally would.

“He’s really helping!” He said to himself.

Suddenly the door swung open and Lance’s eyes shot up to see Hunk, “Oh hey, you’re already back. Great.”

He walked over, and set a few baskets down. Lance looked at them, puzzled, “Um...What did you get?”

“Food. It was cheaper than going out anywhere.”

“Really?” Lance asked, surprised. The baskets looked pretty heavy.

Hunk just nodded, pulling open one of them to let out the sweet aroma of cooked rice and chicken. Lance smiled and hummed.

“Mmm, Oh that smells good.”

Hunk smiled, handing him a portion of the food before taking his own. Lance dug into the meal with little to no hesitation.

“So, how was your day?” Hunk asked.

Lance had to swallow down his food in order to answer, “Great.”

“Oh? What did you do?”

Lance stopped mid chew, trying to come up with some plausible answer, “Uhh,” He swallowed, “Just, walked around.”

“And that was ‘great’?” Hunk asked raising a brow.

“...Yeah, you know. It’s nice to get some fresh air every once in awhile.”

Hunk stared at him for a second longer than was necessary, suspicion building up in his face.

“What?” Lance yelped.

“...Nothing.” Hunk said, taking a bite of his rice.

“What??” Lance repeated.

“I said nothing.”

“Yeah, but it was the kind of ‘nothing’ that means ‘yeah it’s something, and I’m silently judging you about it’.”

Hunk almost snorted up his food at Lance’s comment, quickly raising the back of his hand to press against his lips until he completely swallowed the food. He then pulled his arm away and spoke, “I’m sure you just had a great day walking around. I’m not silently judging you.”

Now it was Lance with the suspicious expression, but eventually he decided to let it go and return to his food. He wondered if Hunk would object to his training with Keith if he told him. He had to admit, he was tempted to, but he had to remember, Hunk was still one of his mentors and could probably take him right back to the Fire Lord's palace if he didn’t agree with his decision. In the end, he decided to play it safe, and finish his meal in silence.

 

Lance caught Keith’s flame easily then shot it right back through the tube. Keith caught it and sent it back. Lance was completely focused, his stance light but stable. His arms moved at a safe rhythm when they received the flame for twentieth time in a row. When he sent it back at Keith, he caught it, smiled, then let the flame die out.

“Great job. You’ve really improved a ton since yesterday.”

Lance beamed, and straightened his back, placing his hand on his hips, “Well, of course. I’m pretty amazing as is.”

Keith rolled his eyes, then walked around the tube to stand beside him, “Okay, try without my help.” He pointed to one of the dummies.

Lance looked at the cream colored figure then nodded. He took his stance, which Keith actually adjusted a little, took a breath, then punched his fist out. A burst of fire flared out from his knuckles. It started out strong, but then progressively died out before hitting the dummy. Lance frowned a little, but Keith pat his shoulder.

“Hey, not bad.”

Lance looked up at him, “Really? But-”

“It’s more than yesterday isn’t it?”

Lance’s frown slowly shifted into a smile, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Keith smiled back, then strolled out in front of him, “Okay, I know you probably don’t want this, but I’m going to show you something Lyn taught me.”

Lance’s shoulders slumped, “If it has something to do with a candle-”

“Don’t worry.” Keith said with a smirk, He then took a stance in front of him then batted his hand at Lance to back up. He complied by taking a few steps backward. Keith then closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. His dark eyes shot open, then he started to do a series of fast movements almost like a dance. Fire shooting out of his fists, feet, and at one point even his mouth. Lance jumped back even further, started by his fast, jolting limbs. Eventually he ended by falling forward, using a single arm to prop himself up while his legs spun around him, shooting out a wave of fire, then he used the momentum of his legs to jump back to his feet. He pulled a final end stance, then straightened his posture, took another breath and relaxed.

“...Woha.” Was all Lance could muster out.

Keith looked at him, “It’s a series of movements that each individually help your bending. Once you master them they will not only help your fire feel stronger and hotter, but they also can help in a fight.”

“And you talk from experience?”

Keith smiled and shrugged then made his way to stand next to Lance, “We’ll go through the first one without any bending.”

Lance nodded, “Okay.”

Keith took his stance and motioned for Lance to copy him. He did so, and watched Keith perform the first movement.

Lance had managed to slowly stumble through three out of the seven movements without any bending. Keith had to help him on more than one occasion, which Lance had no objection to, until he started to really feel every small brush of Keith’s skin against his own, and the pressure when he would try to straighten up his body.

He slowly tried to roll into the fourth movement but Keith stopped him.

“Hold it.” He said.

Lance had both arms out as if ready to defend himself with bending, and his legs were shoulder width apart. He watched as Keith looked him over, scratching his chin. He then reached forward, pressing against Lance’s bare shoulder while his other hand pushed into his back.

“You’re not straight enough.”

 _‘You have no idea,’_ Lance thought, feeling the heat rush up to his cheeks when Keith got behind him, and reached around to grab his wrists.

“You’ve got to keep your spine completely straight when you step into the next part.” He then nudged Lance forward, urging him to complete the move. Lance, face slowly turning beat red, shifted forward, moving his legs the way Keith showed him, trying to keep his back as stiff as he could. When it was over Keith spoke,

“Not quite, now you’re too stiff.” When Keith talked, his breath brushed itself up against Lance’s neck. He didn’t like how good it felt. Eventually Keith walked back in front of him and Lance frantically tried to look casual and not flustered, “You’re a waterbender, I would think you have this kind of thing down already.” He pressed his palm against Lance’s chest to push him back to his starting point.

_‘You really aren’t helping, Keith!’_

“Try it one more time.” He said, stepping back. Lance immediately missed the warmth and pressure of his hand against his chest.

“Huh?” He asked, still somewhat in a flustered daze.

“Uh, try it again.” Keith repeated.

“Oh, right.” Lance took the starting position and started to walk through the steps, slowly and sloppily. He made it to the last movements but something did land right when he tried to follow through to the fourth position, and he ended up stumbling and falling flat on the ground. He could have sworn her heard a snort from Keith, but when he shot his head up to glare at him, his face was expressionless.

“Um...Nice try.”

Lance sighed, getting to his feet.

“How about a break.” Keith asked.

“Sure.” Lance replied with a shrug of the shoulders.

The two of them sat in the tent, eating some circus food Keith managed to get for the both of them. For the longest time neither of them spoke. Keith could see a very overwhelming sense of disappointment in Lance’s eyes. He wasn’t doing horribly. He was actually progressing extremely quickly, probably faster than it had taken Keith to learn what he knows. He turned back to his food, taking another bite when an idea hit him.

“Hey, Lance.”

Lance just gave a tired ‘Hm?’ in response.

“What element are you best at?”

Lance turned and looked up at him. “Huh?”

“Like bending, which one are you most confident with.”

Lance stared at him for a second, then back down at his food, “Well, water I guess. It’s the one I was born with.”

“Show me.”

Lance’s eyes peered back up to Keith, “Show you what?”

“Bend some water.”

Lance looked thoroughly confused and Keith could tell, “Just do it.” He said putting his bowl down and getting to his feet. He walked over to one of the chests lined up along the side of the tent. He then pulled out a large heavy looking bucket, and plopped it down in front of Lance. “Show me how good of a water bender you are.”

Lance stared at him then down at the bucket. He put his own meal down and kneeled forward, peering into it to see it was filled with water.

“You keep large buckets of water in chests?”

Keith shrugged, “We’re firebenders, we can get a little carried away sometimes.”

Lance nodded, seeing his point. He then then lifted his arms and with swift flowing movements of his palms and arms he pulled up a stream of water from the bucket, and started just letting it float around them. Keith sat back down and watched him. Very slowly, he saw Lance begin to smile as he easily made the water move around however he wanted it to. He then pulled it close to his hand, letting it run over his skin like long gloves.

“Feel better?” Keith asked.

Lance smiled at him. The smile was genuine and thankful, “Yeah. Thanks Keith.”

“Don’t worry about it, what’s an ‘on the side’ master for?”

Lance’s smile just spread wider before he turned back to the water. He let it slide off his arms and then encase his face. Keith gave him a puzzled look just before Lance turned to him, spitting most of the water at Keith. Keith let out a yell, jumping back, but he was already partially drenched. Lance started laughing, losing his focus on the water, causing it splash onto the ground around him. Keith wiped away the water from his eyes then directed his attention to Lance with a playful glare before grabbing the bucket at dumping the entire supply on him. Lance gasped, stunned. Keith let out a smirk that honestly made Lance’s heart skip a beat, but he didn’t show it. He used his bending to pull the water off of him and fling it at Keith, who jumped out of the way just in time. Lance tried to bend some more water at his face, but Keith lifted his hand which was now on fire, turning the water into steam. Lance quickly jumped to his feet as well, throwing more water onto Keith while he tried desperately to defend himself. Both benders were laughing uncontrollably while they playfully fought, overwhelmed with the feeling of giddy, childish joy.

 

 

“Whoa, what the hell happened to you?” Hunk said, staring at Lance as he walked into the room. His clothes were drenched and covered with black scorch marks. He didn’t answer him right away, instead he just continued walking over to collapse onto his bed. Finally he mumbled into his pillow, “Nothing,”.

“Yeah, you don’t look like you’ve been through ‘nothing’.”

Lance started to doze off but Hunk refused to let him without getting some kind of explanation. He quickly shook his shoulder, “Lance!”

“Hnn..What?” He mumbled.

“Did you get in a fight? Because if you did-”

“Don’t worry, it was a friendly fight.” He said before nuzzling back up into his pillow.

“Uh...How friendly are we talking? You have scorch marks on your shirt.”

Lance smiled lazily, eyes closed, only half conscious. “Very friendly.”

Hunk raised a brow, “...Oh?”

“Mmmhm~”

Hunk smirked, assuming Lance had run into some girl and tried to impress her, and in turn got his own ass kicked. “Was she pretty?” He asked.

Lance, still only half awake, let out a tired chuckle, slurring his next words. “Yeah...He’s very pretty.”

Hunk froze, then looked back down at Lance, “He?”

Lance hugged his pillow, “Pretty eyes...pretty smile...pretty-” He yawned, then continued, “-hair...He’s just...pretty…” And with that, Lance fell into a soft, gentle sleep.

Hunk stared down at him. Did Lance have a boyfriend? And if so why hadn’t he told him about it? Seeing Lance’s peaceful face just made him smile and he decided to save the questioning for later. He grabbed a thin, soft blanket and pulled it up over the young Avatar’s drenched body, wishing him goodnight.


	7. Lessons in the Dark

The morning sunlight leaked in through the small square window and fell over Lance’s face, forcing him up. He blinked, making a face at the bright light before yawning. He slowly sat up in his bed and stretched out his back, wincing at his aching muscles. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the training or their sudden dual yesterday. As his eyes adjusted, he noticed he was wearing the same clothes from just that occasion. He let out a sigh of annoyance, staring at the stains in his blue shirt. He looked over to see Hunk was still snoring away, and figured her had some time to freshen up. He got up and made his way to the shower.

He stripped out of his watertribe apparel then stepped under the warm, soothing water as they ran down his face and back. As he allowed his mind to drift off under the relaxing shower, he found his thoughts gravitate toward Keith. His eyes, his face, his black hair...He started shaking his head, trying to think of something else, or at least images of Keith that weren’t so romantically painted, but then he saw Keith’s smile. The more Lance thought about it, the more he felt himself want to smile. Eventually he gave in and let Keith completely take over his brain. He had to admit, he liked him...alot. At first it was just the smallest of crushes, but now that they have been spending more time together, those small childish feelings had grown into more legit, romantic ideas in his head that made his heart hurt. Lance lifted his hand and place his palm in his bare chest exactly where Keith had placed it yesterday. Lance blushed knowing how stupid this was if anyone were watching, but it didn’t take long for his brain to go completely off the rails and picture Keith with him in a dark room, pushing him down onto a bed, staring down at him with those dark, beautiful eyes with that intense look that gave Lance butterflies...

Okay! Let’s just tone it down a bit Lance! He yelled to himself.

Suddenly he heard Hunk let out a deep yawn and decided that was his cue to get out of the shower. He turned off the faucet, wrapped a towel around his waist and draped a smaller one over his shoulders then walked out.

“Morning,” He greeted to the tired looking earthbender while he took a corner of the towel around his neck to catch some water threatening to leak into his ear.

Hunk smiled, “Morning loverboy.”

Lance smiled and walked over to get some clothes from his bag but then stopped, and pivoted around to face Hunk again, “Wait...Loverboy?”

Hunk smirked, and stood up, stretching, “I should probably take a shower too.”

“No no no, waaaait! Why did you call me loverboy??”

“Oh, no reason, it’s just you said some things when you turned in last night.” Hunk’s expression didn’t change at all while he spoke.

Lance began to panic, “...W-what did I say??”

“Nothing important, just something about how he is sooo pretty~.”

Lance went pale. “...I did?”

Hunk nodded, turning to face him completely, “Apparently he has pretty eyes, and hair, and the prettiest of smiles.”

Now Lance’s face was no longer pale, but instead a bright red. Hunk folded his arm, still smiling, “Mind clarifying?”

“Uh...Yes…” Lance cleared his throat but it didn’t help, “I uh...met a girl…” He scrambled through his brain frantically, “...whose name was actually...He.”

Hunk stared at him, raising a brow, “Really?”

“Yeah,” Lance said quickly, He then tried to deepen his voice into his more ‘ladies man’ persona, “She’s like super hot, and that’s where I’ve been sneaking off to in the middle of the day…to meet up with her.”

Lance thought it was pretty convincing, but Hunk didn’t look to be buying it at all. “Right, do you think I could meet her?”

Lance’s panic seeped back into his gut, “What?...You wanna meet her?”

“Well of course! I think I should know if my student has a girlfriend, especially if my student is the Avatar.”

Lance let out a chuckle, “Well uh, you see, I uh..She’s probably really busy today. She’s actually apart of the circus sooo-”

“Oh really, just like Keith?” The rise in Hunk’s voice didn’t make Lance feel any better.

“Keith? What? Who’s Keith??”

Hunk stared at him for half a second then spoke slowly, “You told me you met a guy named Keith from the circus who gave you the invitation, remember?”

Lance’s face was now completely crimson. In an attempt to bring everything back to a normal conversation he threw his arms up, “Ooooooh, Keith! Right, him, yes well, I suppose he would be there too, I wouldn’t know, I haven’t seen him around.”

Hunk looked like he was starting to put two and two together, Lance knew he wasn’t an idiot, but he tried to continue the charade.

“Yea, sooo...Maybe I can introduce you two some other ti-”

“How about we go visit her today?”

Lance stiffened, “What?”

“I’m sure we can just swing by the circus tents and say hello, you’re not busy today right?

Lance gulped, “Uh, actually I-”

“I mean, the only reasons you have been sneaking off were to meet up with her, right?” Hunk interrupted.

Lance froze and then tried to answer with a semi-normal tone, “Yeah...right.”

“Great, lemme take a shower, throw on some clothes and we’ll pop round to see her.” Hunk said, turning toward the showers. Lance watched him until he was behind the door, then slapped the palm of his hand against his forehead.

 

The two of them made their way through town, picking up some breakfast along the way. Lance found himself unable to eat any of it and he was pretty sure his right eye had adapted a nervous twitch, which worsened once the circus tents were in view.

“Almost there, do you think she’s practicing for tomorrow?”

“...Probably.” Lance said, thinking of Keith twirling a staff with his two partners.

Hunk grinned, “What does she do?”

Lance hadn’t heard him, he was too busy dreading his impending doom that was so bright and colorful, and getting closer with every step he took.

“Lance?”

“Oh uh...I forget.” Hunk just smirked, and took a bite out of his breakfast pastry.

The two made it into the circus area where many colorful looking people were walking around, practicing, and talking amongst themselves.

“Wow, lively group aren’t they.” Hunk said with a smile, “I can see why you are drawn to them.”

Lance gave a small, slightly nervous chuckle, “Yeah,” He then jerked his head around, trying to pinpoint Keith as quickly as possible.

“So, where would she be?” Hunk asked, looking around himself.

“Uhhhh, I don’t know, I don’t see her.” Suddenly he saw him, the dark haired firebender, shirtless with his hair pulled back, walk into one of the tents, holding a staff in hand. He must have just finished up practicing, which means he was expecting Lance anyway.

“I’m gonna look over here.” Lance quickly said to Hunk before dashing forward toward the tent.

Once he reached it, he quickly poked his head in to see Keith putting the staff away and dabbing his forehead with a dry cloth, “Keith,” He hissed. The firebender turned, his eyes lighting up at the sight of his face.

“Lan-” He started with a smile but was quickly cut off.

“We don’t know each other,” Lance quickly whispered.

Keith pulled a face, “What?”

“Also do you have a girl partner from one of your fire performances that I could call my girlfriend for like, two seconds?”

Keith just blinked at him, “Lance what are you-”

He was cut off again by someone from behind Lance push him through the tent flap completely, causing him to yelp. It was Hunk. He placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“Ah, Hunk, I was uh...asking where she was.” Lance said, clearing his voice immediately after.

“Oh really?” Hunk said, a smug look still plastered over his face.

“Yup,” Lance said quickly.

Hunk turned his attention to Keith and bowed respectfully, “I apologize if my friend was bothering you.”

Keith returned the gesture, “Not at all,” His eyes darted up to Lance for a second before straightening himself, “I was just finishing up my early morning practice.”

Hunk stared at him for a second then grinned, “Oh! You’re him! The really cool guy that had to wrestle a lion at your last show!”

Lance was physically trying his hardest not to facepalm himself, he was counting on the possibility that Hunk wouldn’t recognize him.

“Uh, yeah.” Keith said.

“So that makes you Keith, Lance’s told me you two are friends.”

Keith raised a brow, and looked at Lance from over Hunk’s shoulder, “He has?”

Lance started blushing and silently tried to motion that it wasn’t something he would obsess over, but with Hunk turning his gaze back toward him, he immediately stopped.

“Yeah, he said you two met at the festival.”

“Oh,” Keith started, drawing Hunk’s gaze back to him, giving Lance the opportunity to start miming again. He started nodding his head, indicating how Keith should answer.

“Yes. That’s true. I gave him his invitation for the next show.” Lance gave a thumbs up of approval.

“Yeah, he told me that too.” Hunk folded his arms, “So, have you two hung out at all while he’s been here.”

Lance quickly started shaking his head and slicing his hands over his throat.

“Uh..No. This is the first time I’ve seen him here.”

“See, I wasn’t lying.” Lance jumped in from behind Hunk, who just let out a thoughtful hum.

“Well, in that case, do you think you can help us?” He said to Keith.

“Sure, I can try.”

“Do you know where He is?”

Keith hesitated, tried to look at Lance for direction, but he was too busy physically cringing and grabbing his forehead.

“Um, who?”

Now Lance decided to jump in, draping his skinny arm over Hunk’s shoulder, “He, you know, that really cute girl that’s madly in love with me!”

Keith just stared at Lance, “...and her name is...He?” His face was practically screaming the words, Are you serious?!

“You mean you don’t know anyone named He here?” Hunk asked, obviously trying to push him toward a specific answer.

“I...uh-”

“Of course you do Keith!” Lance said, “You know, that kinda short girl with the uh...brown eyes?”

Thankfully, he decided to play along, “Oh, did she have tanish skin and uh…” He paused for a half a second before continuing, “Red hair?”

“Yeah!”

Keith suddenly decided to get cute, and smirked, “Crooked teeth? Kinda looks like a skeleton cause she’s just that skinny?”

“Oh, well uh-”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember her now. Has a unibrow? Really long pointy nose? Mole right here with hair growing out of it?” He pointed to his left cheek.

Lance stared at him with a completely unamused face, then slowly answered. “...Yup...That’s her.”

Hunk’s brows knitted together, “That doesn’t sound at all like your type.” He said looking over at Lance.

“Well, as the Avatar, I am able to find beauty in everything.” He said, proudly lifting his chin.

“Right,” Hunk said, sounding unconvinced. He turned back to Keith, “Well you wouldn’t happen to know where she is?”

“Oh uh well, she..uh..” He looked at Lance, but he looked just as clueless as him, and shrugged, motioning for him to make up something, “...She broke her leg.”

“What? Really?” Hunk asked, sounding concerned.

“Yeah, just this morning. She was rushed to some healers and I think she was going to be sent back home.” Lance grinned at him from over Hunk’s shoulder, shooting him another thumbs up.

“Oh wow,” Hunk looked back at Lance, causing him to quickly pull a saddened expression, “Gee Lance, I’m sorry.”

“Wow...Well, if she’s with the healers I’m sure she’s okay.”

Keith nodded. Hunk then looked back to Keith, “Well, we hope she gets better and returns soon.” Hunk then bowed to Keith respectfully, “We won’t take up any more of your time.”

Keith bowed back, shooting Lance a quick look.

“C’mon, we can spend the rest of the day shopping or something, maybe I’ll be able to actually find you some earthbending chores to do.” Hunk said, looking at Lance, before walking out of the tent. Lance watched him go then sighed, letting his shoulders drop, “Well there goes lessons.” He looked over at Keith, “Think you could sneak in some midnight training?” Lance asked.

Keith shrugged, “I don’t see why not. Really think you can sneak past him?”

Lance smirked, “What Hunk? He’s a super heavy sleeper, don’t worry.”

“Lance, you coming?” Hunk called from outside.

Lance scrambled to the tent flap and looked back to Keith, quickly spitting out his words in a  
jumbled mess, “Gottagoseeyoutonightbuy!” and with that he rushed out.

Keith stared at the tent flap, and smiled to himself, slightly shaking his head.

 

The day was full of shopping and eating. There was some earthbending woven in there somewhere, but nothing too major. Just tossing some pebbles into a pond located outside of town where they had lunch. By the time they got back to the inn, Hunk was out like a light in less than two minutes of hitting the bed. Lance waiting for another ten just to be on the safe side.

He grabbed his satchel and quietly snuck out of the inn toward the circus tents. Once he was there, he silently slipped into their camp area, only to realize he hadn’t told Keith where to meet up. He assumed his best bet was the training tent and started over in that direction. He peaked into the tent only to see it was empty.

“Keith?” He whispered.

“Here.”

Lance jumped and spun around to see Keith standing behind him, fire illuminating his hand for light. He just smirked a little as Lance slowly calmed down.

“You’re not allowed to do that to me!” He hissed under his breath.

“Oh, but getting me to lie for you is?”

“Yes, yes it is.”

Keith just smiled and shook his head, walking into the tent, “What was that all about anyway?” He asked as his lit a lantern hanging at the center of the tent.

“Uh,” Lance started to blush a little thinking about it, “It’s a long story.”

Keith shrugged, “Fine.” He then turned around and saw the satchel hanging on Lance’s shoulder, “What’s that for.”

Lance looked down at the bag, “Oh, well Lyn kinda gave me homework.” He reached into the bag and pulled out the three candles Lyn forced onto him before he left the Fire Lord’s palace.

“Seriously?” Keith asked. Lance nodded with a sigh which drew a small chuckle out of Keith. He walked over, talking one of the candles from him to look it over. He stared at it for a thoughtful second then spoke, “Actually, this gives me an idea.” He walked back over to the lantern he just lit, still holding the candle.

“What?” Lance asked.

Suddenly Keith killed off the light from the lantern. There was a moment of darkness before Keith lit the small candle in his hand. He made his way to the center of the tent and then set it on the ground at his feet, taking a seat himself.

“Let’s have this be out lesson for tonight.”

Lance groaned a little, “Seriously, I get enough of this-”

“Come on Lance, think of this as a meditation period, besides, it’s getting your homework done isn’t it?”

Lance sighed and was about to complain some more until he got a good look at Keith’s face against the small, orange light coming from the candle. It was perfect. His eyes were dark and intense, yet somehow also extremely comforting. His skin look golden and completely flawless, and the bangs of his black hair hung in a way that made Lance’s heart skip a beat.

“...Yeah...Okay.” He slowly sat down across from Keith and lit the other two candles himself, setting them down on the ground. He looked at the candles for a moment before his eyes drifted up to Keith to see he was already looking at him. He felt his chest tighten and desperately wanted to look away. Why was this boy so damn beautiful??

“You wanna talk?” Keith asked.

“During meditation?” Lance asked, surprised.

Keith shrugged, “It’ll be a good way to really get to know each other, and don’t you think that should be a thing if we’re going to be master and student?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Lance said.

Keith leaned back a little, letting his arms prop his body up, “You first.”

“Okay, well, what do you want to know?” Lance asked.

Keith shrugged, “How about when you found out you were the Avatar?”

Lance smiled at the ground, smirking a little thinking back to it. “I was just a kid,” He shifted into a more relaxed position in order to tell the story. “I was out playing outside with some friends when I lost my balance and stumbled down a snow bank. I braced myself to hit the ground but never did.”

“Airbending?”

Lance nodded, “It took me weeks to convince everyone I wasn’t just lying for attention.”

Keith smirked, “Was that normal of you? Lying for attention?”

Lance smiled, “Yeah, I have a really huge family so, I was always looking for attention.”

“How fitting you turned out to be the Avatar.”

Lance laughed looking down at the candels, “Yeah really.”

“Is it ever too much?”

Lance looked up, “Too much what?”

“Attention.”

Lance shrugged, “Not really. Honestly sometimes it feels like I’m still fighting for it…” He turned his gaze back to one of the flickering flames, and frowned, “Sometimes I feel like a pretty useless Avatar if I’m honest.”

Keith peered at him, puzzled, “Why?”

“Well, I mean...I haven’t done anything really that significant. I haven’t mastered firebending yet, and I’m not even all that spiritual.” Lance pushed himself back up, still staring at the three dancing flames. “I just wanna do something great, you know? A reason for people to remember me.”

There was a silence before Keith broke it. “I’m sure you will. From what I’ve seen of you so far, you already aren’t a normal Avatar.”

Lance looked up at him, confused. Keith saw this, smiled, and continued, “I haven’t heard of many Avatar’s that would sneak off with a circus freak to practice fire bending all because he didn’t like his real teacher.”

Lance smiled, and was tempted to laugh, but then his thoughts really latched onto Keith’s words.

“You’re not a circus freak.” He said.

Keith looked at him, then down toward the ground, “Yeah, I am. Honestly, as much as I hate that man’s guts, Lyn isn’t wrong. I probably could have done a lot more with myself, but instead chose this, all because I needed a place to stay.”

Lance sat back up and leaned forward a little, “But you’re really good! Amazing even! That whole flame dragon thing,” He smirked, “I’d like to see Lyn try and pull that off.”

Keith smirked a little, but immediately went back to frowning. “To be completely frank, I don’t even really like it here. Sure it’s fun and all, but after a while it almost turns into a chore. We do a show, pack up, move to the next place. It’s just the same thing over and over again.”

Lance hiked up one of his legs and rested his elbow on it, “Well, what do you want to do?”

Keith smiled and looked up at him, “Be a firebending teacher.”

Lance let out a small laugh, “Really?”

Keith nodded, scratching the back of his neck, “Yeah.”

“Then why did you seem so hesitant when I suggested it in the first place?”

Keith shifted a little, “Well, I really didn’t think it would work. I honestly still have my doubts, I mean, tomorrow I have my show, then the next day we pack up and leave. You can’t just keep following me around each time we have a show.”

“Says who?”

Keith sighed, “Lance, be realistic.”

“I am being realistic.” He protested.

“You already have a master back at the palace.”

“Yeah, a really crappy one. You said yourself he was holding me back, and look,” Lance lit his fist on fire. It was a strong, bold flame that lasted for nearly nine whole seconds before dying out. “See that? I couldn’t do that before I got here!”

Keith looked at his fist then his face, he stared for a minute then looked back down, “I don’t know.”

Lance sat up on his knees to lean forward a little, “Keith, you are a great firebender, and an even greater teacher! If I could switch you out with Lyn I would do it in a heartbeat!”

Keith lifted his head, “Really?”

Lance nodded, extending his arms forward onto the ground and leaning his weight onto them so he was practically in a crawling position toward Keith, “You know what, when I get back, I’m going to start looking into how I can get rid of him as my teacher.”

Keith chuckled, “He wouldn’t let you. Besides, I’m sure you’ll have to go through a lot of formal shit to get a new master, especially with someone as high ranking a Lyn. He would probably make the argument that I’m not fit to be your permanent teacher.”

Lance gritted his Keith at the thought of Lyn trying to keep him away from Keith, he moved forward a little more, and practically yelled, “But I want you Keith!”

There was a sudden silence between them and the small flames seemed to grow a bit dimmer all of the sudden. Keith’s eyes widened a little and the two suddenly became aware of the distance that had slowly been decreasing between them. Both of them blushed. The flames from the three candles started to pulse at the pace of their combined erratic heartbeats. Fast, shocked, and a little frightened. The dim orange lights danced across their faces, almost magically, making the situation seem all the more impossibly perfect.

“...What did you say?” Keith asked quietly.

Lance knew full well by the tone in his voice Keith didn’t see it as a ‘master, student’ type of thing, and in all honestly, Lance didn’t mean it that way either. He did want Keith, in more ways than one.

“I...want you, Keith…” Lance whispered.

“...That’s what I thought you said.”

Lance couldn’t help, but let his eyes drag down to Keith’s lips. They were tantalizingly close. All he had to do was lean a few inches closer and then...

He swallowed hard, forcing his eyes back up to Keith’s eyes, only to see they were staring at Lance’s lips. He felt the heat rush up to his cheeks and the butterflies swirl around his stomach. Keith actually wanted the same thing? The fire from the candles flickered even faster. Lance, who was still on all fours, slowly slid his hands across the ground so they were one either side of Keith. His whole body moving a little closer. When Lance did this, he saw and heard Keith’s breathing pick up a little and he noticed the three flames around them grew brighter. He almost wanted to ask if this was okay, but he was to encaptured by the moment to speak. His head moved close enough to feel Keith’s warm breath on his mouth. His fingers curled up into a fist in response to feeling him after drawing in a shaky breath. Just as he was beginning to think this was a bad idea and he should pull away, Keith reached up, gripped the collar of his shirt and pulled him in, smacking their lips together. Lance’s eyes shot open but only for a second before relaxing into the kiss.

Wow, Keith felt really good on Lance’s mouth. He was warm, soft, and overall comforting. All the flustered and nervous feelings he had in his gut two seconds prior completely faded away. Keith tilted his head ever so slightly, allowing Lance to kiss him more directly. He let out what little breath he had taken in before their mouths locked through his nose, then pushed his head forward, somewhat parting his lips as they each took in a short deep breath, not wanting to break away from each other. Lance’s whole torso and shoulders leaned forward to be even closer, pushing Keith’s head back with his mouth while continuing the kiss, deepening it ever so slightly. He felt Keith lean back, then with one hand, reach up and place his palm against the side of Lance’s face gently. His fingers slowly combed their way into his hair, then ran along the curve of his skull to the back of his head, pulling him closer. Lance let out a muffled hum, then pushed even more until Keith had rolled onto his back. He adjusted the rest of his body so he was completely over of him then deepened the kiss even more. Keith made a muffled sound in reaction to this and wrapped both of his arms around Lance’s shoulder, one hand still tangled in his hair. Lance adjusted his head so he could get a better feel of Keith’s lips, which Keith seemed to have no objection to, kissing him back just as eagerly. Their mouth’s danced together for a while before Lance reluctantly pulled away to suck in a gulp of air. Keith did the same and the two found themselves staring at each other, taking the moment to catch their breath.

“...I just made out with my firebending teacher.” Was what Lance chose to say.

Keith smiled and let out a light chuckle, “You just made out with your firebending teacher.” he said with a nod.

Lance smiled looking down at him, his hair fell on the ground around his head in a perfectly tangled mess that made Lance want to reach out and run his fingers through it. He lifted his hand, picking a dark strand from his bangs to gently play with, twirling it around his index finger then ended up running the back of his hand along Keith’s cheekbone.

“I kinda want to do it again…” He whispered, slowly leaning in again for another kiss, but Keith stopped him by moving his hand in between their lips. Lance’s mouth ran into it, and he blinked. His eyes then peered up at Keith, puzzled.

“Let’s think of this as another lesson.” Keith smirked, “Self control.”

Lance stared for a second then quickly pulled away to get a better look at him, “What?? Are you serious??”

Keith, still smirking, lifted his shoulders off the ground and rested his weight on his elbows, “I’m serious. Fire benders need to learn self control. This seems like a decent enough test.”

Lance wasn’t sure if he wanted to punch him or just try to kiss him again, “Please don’t tell me you just let me kiss you so you could pull that crap on me!”

Keith quickly shook his head, “Oh god no! No, don’t worry, I really had no intention for us to get this….intimate.”

Lance rolled back onto his knees and scratched the back of his neck, “So...you...liked it?”

Keith smiled, and nodded, a shade of pink dusting his cheeks, “Yeah, I did.”

A small smile spread across Lance’s face, and the three flames grew soft, and warm. Keith sat up completely, looking at the candles, “Best finish up your homework.”

Lance nodded, sitting back down and crossing his legs. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, falling back into a relaxed state, Keith did the same. Soon their breaths began to rise and fall at the same time, the three flames mimicking their subtle movements. After a few seconds of silence, Lance peeked one of his eyes open and looked at Keith who was meditating peacefully, eyes closed. Lance opened both eyes completely to stare at him. He looked so perfect just sitting there. The thought of their small make out session flooded back to him, and his cheeks flushed. He smiled and closed his eyes again. Taking control of his breathing, matching it perfectly to Keith’s.


	8. The Circus

“You seem happy this morning.” Hunk pointed out as Lance hummed cheerfully while slipping into his clothing for the day. 

“I am.” He said, without even turning to look at Hunk, who was already dressed and sitting on his bed. 

“It wouldn’t have anything to do kissing Keith would it?”

Lance’s kept humming, not fully registering what Hunk had said, “Yeah, he’s a great kiss-” He suddenly froze and his humming stopped. He jerked around and stared at Hunk who had the smuggest look on his face he had ever seen him wear. 

“How did..you..I mean..what are you talking about?!”

Hunk folded his arms, “Don’t try to deny it, Lance, I’m not as heavy a sleeper as you might think. I followed you down there.”

Lance’s cheerful exterior dropped to pure dread, face growing pale. He cleared his throat, “Uh...when did you...show up?”

“You mean what part of your secret training session?” Hunk asked to which Lance simply nodded. Hunk grinned and started to hug him self, “Oh Keith, I would make you my permanent firebending teacher in a heartbeat! You’re so hot and amazing! Oh, I want you, Keith!” He then started to make out with the air and Lance’s face twisted with blush.

“I did not say it like that!”

Hunk laughed, “But you did say it.”

Lance’s blush intensified. 

“So...did you guys...you know.” Hunk asked, wiggling his eyebrows. 

“No!” Lance yelped, “Hang on, I thought you were there!”

“Dude, I left after you pinned Keith to the ground. I’m not into that kind of thing. Plus I figured you two deserved some privacy.”

Lance’s face could not get any redder. He fell back onto his bed, hands covering his face. “Oh god...My best friend and teacher watched me make out with my hot firebending teacher.”

Hunk smirked, and stood up to take a seat on Lance’s bed next to him, “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s happens to the best of us, even the Avatar.” He said with a pat on the shoulder, “Would you have rather I walked in on you two and ruined the moment.” 

“I would rather be dead.” Lance groaned.

“Oh cut the drama, It’s not like I’m mad at you. I’m just teasing.”

Lance let his hands drop from his face, and turned to peer up at Hunk’s face, “So...You’re not gonna tell Lyn about the lessons when we get back?” 

Hunk shook his head. “Nah, Lyn’s a pain in the ass. I don’t blame you for looking for someone new.” He looked down at Lance’s hands, “Is it helping at least?”

Lance looked up and smiled a little. He lifted his left arm and lit his hand on fire for a whole ten seconds. The flame was strong and hot. Hunk grinned, “Wow dude, that’s impressive! How long have you been seeing him?” 

Lance lowered his arm, “Just three days.”

“You’ve improved that much in just three days?” Hunk asked, eyes widening. 

Lance nodded, “I know right! Keith said Lyn was actually holding me back by not letting me try new things.”

“So, are you going to try and get rid of Lyn then?”

Lance shrugged, “I mean, it seems like the right thing to do, don’t you think?”

“Hey,” Hunk gently slapped Lance’s back, “You’re the Avatar, I think if anyone has the right to choose which teacher he likes better, it’s you.”

Lance smiled up at him, but then frowned a little, “Lyn isn’t going to like it. He’s gonna protest.”

“Oh definitely,” Hunk said, “but there is one thing you have that he doesn’t.”

Lance peered at him questioningly.

“You’ve got a bunch of friends that will gladly pound his face in for you.” 

He couldn’t help but laugh at this, causing Hunk to smile. He then stood up, “Come on, we’ve got a circus to watch.” 

 

The two of them managed to get front row seats, which Hunk wasn’t sure was the best idea but Lance insisted. Soon the circus master walked out and the crowd cheered. He welcomed everyone and expressed how great of a show they had planned and how he hoped everyone enjoyed. After he walked off the first performers up were the gymnasts, than jugglers, then some animals that Lance noticed were much tamer than Red. 

“So, when’s Keith suppose to show up?” Hunk asked.

“He should show up toward the end.” Lance answered, “I think it’s the same schedule as the last one.”

Hunk nodded, then turned his attention back to a large saber caribou that was hissing but doing the tricks it was commanded to do, “Think he’s gonna show up and wrestle that thing too?”

Lance smirked, “I bet he could.”

“Oooh, bragging about him already, huh?” Lance just smiled, and playfully shoved Hunk in the shoulder, which only caused his big friend to laugh. 

Soon, after lots of daring and amazing acts by the other performers, Keith and his two partners stepped out. Keith was shirtless and covered in the beautiful body and face paint. His hair was pulled back and even had some red streaks in it tonight. Lance was 99% sure his heart just stopped at the sight of him. He smiled, dazed as he stared over his amazing figure. It grew even worse when Keith actually looked over and caught his eye. He stared with those dark eyes, then quickly winked. 

Shit!

His face heated up quick and he clutched at his chest, grabbing Hunk with his other free hand.

“Oh god! Hunk I don’t think I can last! I hope you know CPR because my heart just stopped!”

Hunk smirked, rolled his eyes and pulled the love sick Avatar into a side hug. Lance then waved to Keith, still blushing red and smiling like an idiot. Keith managed to spare a small flutter of his fingers before stepping into position. Lance watched in a complete daze that not even Hunk’s snapping fingers in front of his eyes could pull him out of. 

The performance started out the same as before with each of them creating an orb of fire burning up from over them. Lance stared in amazement as his firebending teacher danced with ease. The fire made his body glow, and this time, Lance could see a confident smile plastered on Keith’s face, making his heart flutter even more. 

Half way through the performance, there were three dancing flames, but then, all of the sudden, there was a fourth. At first, Lance assumed it was apart of the show, but with little warning it hit Keith in the back. Lance watched as Keith’s face suddenly went from confident joy to immense pain. He shouted out and fell forward. His flame that was apart of the show disappeared, and his two partners stared down at him in shock. 

“What the hell?!” Lance yelled.

Four men walked out onto the stage. One was the circus master, two looked like palace guards, and the last one made Lance’s blood boil. 

“Yes, that’s him.” Lyn said with that strict voice of his.

The circus master turned to him, “I do wish you would have waited until the end of their performance.” He said.

“Why, and let a criminal relish in his freedom that should have been taken away a long time ago.” Lyn answered, then turned to the two guards, “Take him away.”

Keith, who was wincing in pain from the burn, was only starting to pick himself up when the two guards walked over and grabbed his arms. He let out a yelp of pain which made Lance’s eyes flare and jump to his feet, “Stop!”

Lyn’s gaze turned to land on Lance. “Ah, Avatar Lance, I thought I would find you here.”

Lance cut him off by jumping up onto the stage with the help of some airbending and glared at him, “What do you think you are doing?!” He screamed. 

“Why, I am only offering my assistance to uphold the law.” He said with a completely straight face. 

“What? Keith didn’t do any-”

“He stole a lion from this very circus and sent it to be transferred to Ba Sing Se illegally.” Lyn interrupted. Both Keith and Lance’s eyes widened, “After you left on your little ‘training vacation’, the police came to talk, and asked if I knew anyone that could have pulled off the heist. Of course I knew exactly who would be stupid and reckless enough to even attempt it.” His eyes darted to Keith, who just glared at him through the stinging pain in his back.

Lance narrowed his eyes, “You don’t have any proof it was him!” Lance yelled, but Lyn just turned and motioned behind him. Two more guards walked out, forcing a woman to stagger along with them. It was the smuggler that helped transport Red. Lance went stiff.

“On the contrary, we have a pretty convincing witness,” Lyn said, almost smirking this time. 

Keith and Lance both stared at her. She had cuts and bruises all over her face and kept her gaze gravitated toward the ground. 

“You ratted us out?!” Lance screamed. 

She started shaking her head, “I didn’t mean-”

“Wheres Red!” Keith screamed. 

“She’s safe,” The woman said quickly, “They’ll never find her.”

This time Lyn did smile, “We’ll see about that.” 

“Should we apprehend the Avatar as well?” One of the guards asked. He hesitated, looking over at Lance. The two stared each other down for a moment before he shook his head. 

“No. Just take the circus freak.”

The men holding Keith started to drag him away. Lance’s eyes glared and he bolted to Lyn, “Stop you can’t! I did it! It was all me-” He was cut off by Lyn punching his arm out and stabbing his bony knuckles into Lance’s chest. He croaked, and fell on his back.

Lyn walked over, peering down at him, “You were persuaded and taken advantage of by this man for your powers. The Avatar did not directly take part in this crime by his own free will!” He then leaned down and said in a whisper that only Lance could hear, “And that is final!” 

Lance, who was having trouble breathing and feeling his limbs, could only glare at him as he stood back up and walked away. Lance coughed, and slowly forced his body to sit up, grabbing at his chest where Lyn had hit him. He looked up to see Keith looking back at him before one of the guard pushed his head down and forced it forward. Soon they all left the tent, and the circus was over.


	9. Words Can Sting More Than A Burn

Hunk handed Lance another cup of tea which he took, but didn’t drink. He was just staring at the empty white wall with his back propped up against the wooden head post of his bed. He still felt weak from Lyn’s impressive chi block.

“...I’m sorry Lance.” Hunk finally said.

“...There has to be something we can do.” Lance finally mumbled.

Hunk sighed, obviously not feeling too hopeful, “Lyn is really pushing for Keith to be locked up for a while.”

“Why the hell does he hate him so much?!” Lance shouted.

“I don’t know.” Hunk said.

Lance tensed up, let out a burst of anger and chucked the wooden cup of tea across the room. Hunk winced when it smacked against the wall and fell to the floor, spilling its contents of hot tea onto the dry floor boards. Lance then grabbed his forehead, “If I had just stopped him from taking Red instead of helping him none of this would have happened.”

Hunk rested his hand on Lance’s shoulder, “I’m not so sure about that, he might have done it anyway.”

Lance knew Hunk was probably right, but it still bugged him. He then turned his head to face Hunk’s, “Did you hear where they were taking him?”

Hunk nodded, “I overheard one of the men tell the guards to head back to the Fire Lord’s palace. I think they are going to hold him in the dungeons there.”

Lance immediately threw the blankets off and swing his legs over the side of the bed, “Then we’re going back too,” He started to stand up, but his muscles were still weak, and almost immediately stumbled back down.

“Slow down,” Hunk said, “you’re going to hurt yourself.” He reached out to him, but Lance smacked him away.

“I’m fine,” Lance insisted, and slowly stood up again. He then reached for his bag and walked over to the foot of his bed where his shoes were resting, “We need to leave, now.” Lance said, sitting back down on the foot of the bed to lace up his shoes. Hunk frowned, but then stood up himself.

“Alright. We probably won’t get back until dark since we have to go by foot.”

Lance stood back up and started toward the door, “Let’s go.” He said in a tone Hunk hadn’t ever heard him use before. It was sharp, dangerous, and determined. Hunk knew the next encounter Lance and Lyn shared wasn’t going to be pretty.

 

Hunk was right, they didn’t reach the palace until it was nearly midnight. Hunk was exhausted, and in all honesty, so was Lance, but he was too concerned about Keith to sleep.

“You sure you don’t want to check in the morning?” Hunk asked, struggling to keep his eyes open.

“I’m sure,” He turned to Hunk who was threatening to just topple over right there and pass out. “Go home, you need sleep.” Lance said, in a soft tone.

Hunk let out a yawn, and rubbed his left eye, “So do you.” He pointed out.

“I’ll be fine,” Lance assured him.

Hunk probably would have argued with him normally, but in his current condition, he was too worn out to even try. He just nodded weakly, “Do you know what you are going to do about Lyn tomorrow?”

There was a short pause before Lance shook his head, “Not yet.”

“Well, you should figure it out soon,” Hunk said while stretching, “You know he’s going to come looking for you.”

Lance nodded, then gently pushed Hunk in the direction of his house, “Get some sleep, Hunk.”

His friend nodded, “Yeah, yeah, you too.” He staggered forward, and started walking. Lance gave a small smile seeing him leave, then turned in the direction of the prison. The guards there should’ve known who he is, so he wasn’t worried about getting in.

He walked down the pathway toward the large stone tower and up to the large metal gates. Two men were there, half asleep. They quickly jumped to attention when they noticed Lance come into view.

“Avatar Lance!?” One asked, sounding a bit startled to see him.

“Has there been any new arrivals today?” Lance asked plainly.

“Oh, uh, yes actually. One came in earlier this evening.”

“I want to see him.”

The two guards exchanged subtle side glances, before coming to the decision that it was okay. They eventually turned and opened the gates for him. Lance didn’t bother thanking them, and walked in.

“He’s in the cell at the far end of that hall.” One of the men called out, pointing into the said dungeon. Lance nodded to him, and started walking.

As the guards returned to their posts he saw the dark cell at the end of the dimly lit hallway. When he walked closer his heart sunk at the sight. Keith was laying on his side against the cold filthy looking stone ground. His back looked worse than before, red and irritated. Most of the body paint had been smeared off and his black hair was all tangled and messy. Lance quickly rushed over, dropping to his knees in front of the bars.

“Keith!” He whispered.

He saw Keith’s body stall, then slowly start to move. He pushed himself up and carefully turned his head. His dark eyes lit up at the sight of Lance, “Lance!” He quickly pulled his body up and scrambled over to the bars, almost immediately wincing in pain. Lance’s eyes shifted to a look of concern.

“Your back, did they not treat it when they brought you here?”

Keith simply answered by shaking his head, face still cringing in pain.

Lance felt his blood start to boil. He gripped the bars while harshly glaring at the ground. He took a deep breath, trying to keep his anger under control, then dropped his bag from his shoulder, beginning to search through it, “Turn around.” he said.

Keith lifted his eyes, “What?”

“Just do it.” Lance ordered in a softer tone.

Keith slowly did as his asked, crossing his legs and wincing at the small movement. Lance’s heart poured out for him once getting a good look at the burn, he had been burnt once before so he had an idea of how painful it was. Sure his wasn’t anything too serious, just a small burn on his leg, but the sting of that small burn still haunts him. He can only imagine how Keith must be feeling.

Lance slowly pulled out a small northern water tribe pouch, unscrewed the cap, and with his bending slowly drew a small stream of water out from it. After pulling the entire contents, he put the pouch down and turned to Keith, Slowly bending the water through the bars, hovering it over his wound, “This might hurt a bit.” He warned quietly. Keith slowly nodded, his back physically tensing up readying for the sharp stinging sensation.

With a slow movement of his hands, Lance pressed the water against Keith’s burn and it started to glow. Keith let out a sharp hiss followed by a weak moan. Lance whispered ‘sorry’ a series of times, knowing how much it must have hurt. Soon he felt Keith’s body start to relax against his hands as the pain seemed to die down a little.

“How’s that feel?” Lance asked.

“Better.” Keith answered.

Lance continued the healing process that his mother had taught him. There was a prolonged silence before Lance felt as though he should be the one to break it.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner, I only just got back into town.”

Keith shook his head, “It’s fine. I’m glad you’re here now.”

Lance gave a small smile, but then frowned while looking over the burn. “...I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

Keith turned his head a little, “This isn’t your fault, Lance.”

“It is.” Lance huffed, “If I had just stayed put and sat through Lyn’s stupid lessons he never would have got looking for me at the festival and found out you were apart of the circus, then you could have taken care of Red without getting caught.”

There was a short beat of silence before Keith spoke, “Maybe you’re right,”

“I know I’m right.” Lance insisted.

Keith suddenly reached back and grabbed one of Lance’s wrists. Lance froze and watched as Keith turned a little to look at him, “but if you hadn't snuck out, we never would have bumped into each other. We probably never would have met at all.”

His dark eyes were gentle, and sincere and before he knew it, Lance was encaptured in them. He really didn’t like the idea of never meeting Keith. It hurt him physically. He slowly let his eyes fall back to Keith’s back, “...That would suck.”

Keith lightly chuckled, “Yeah, it would.”

Lance gave the smallest of smiles, then gently pushed Keith’s shoulder, to turn him back around so he could continue treating the burn. Keith let him and the two sat in a comfortable silence for a short while until Lance’s curiosity struck him.

“Hey, Keith?”

Keith gave a short hum.

“Why does Lyn hate you so much. Ever since you showed back up he’s been really...hostile I guess.”

Lance was surprised to hear Keith smirk before giving his answer with a smiling voice, “We’ve always had a rocky relationship, even when I was younger.”

“How did you two meet?”

Keith let out a small sigh. “For a while all of Lyn’s students were orphans that couldn’t find a home. The Fire lord thought that would be a better option instead of just hunting us down to put in orphanages.” Keith smiled again, “I was about twelve when he started to really piss me off. I remember one day he was being really hard on a new student, so when he wasn’t looking, I heated up his tea to the point where it was boiling.”

Lance snorted, “Seriously? What happened?”

Keith turned his head a little and smiled, “What do you think? He burnt his mouth and talked with a lisp for a two weeks”

Lance broke out into a fit of giggles, “Oh god,”

Keith laughed a little as well, “I never admitted to it, but he knew it was me.”

Once Lance figured he had done all he could for Keith’s burn, he carefully pulled the water away from his back, “Still,” He said, putting the water back into the pouch, “I don’t see how that caused him to like… hate ‘hate’ you. Sure it probably pissed him off a bit, but ‘hate’?”

Keith shifted his body to face Lance, a small smile still painted on his lips, “Oh that was only the beginning. I pulled hundreds of other stunts like that. I always would go out of my way to humiliate or inconvenience him.” Keith’s expression slowly became a bit more somber, he looked down at his hands while they gently rubbed against each other, “Eventually, he snapped and...challenged me to an agni kai.”

Lance’s eyes widened, “He what?” He asked in total disbelief.

“You heard me.”

“How old were you?”

“I think at this point I had just turned fourteen.”

Lance was shocked. He hadn’t heard anything about this. No one had mentioned his current firebending teacher was an evil bastard that would challenge a fourteen year old to an agni kai. “What did you do?” He asked eagerly.

“Well, I’m not one to chicken out of a fight, so I accepted.”

“I can’t believe that creep!” Lance shouted, not caring if the guards heard him.

Keith looked up at him through the bars, and grew a smug smiled, “Yeah, but the thing is I won.”

Lance’s jaw dropped for a moment, “Wait,” it broke into a wide grin, “For real?”

Keith nodded, “Yeah. Though I’m sure if you asked him about it he would tell you I cheated. I walked out right after that and eventually wound up in the circus.”

Lance stared at him for a second, smiling. It was official, Keith was the coolest person on the planet. It was a crime that he hadn’t heard of him before. Not only was he an extremely talented and powerful firebender, but he stood up against his own corrupt firebending teacher in an agni kai, and won! Lance just sharted shaking his head, still smiling, “I need you as my teacher!” He said.

Keith scoffed, “Sorry but I don’t think that’s gonna work out too well anymore.”

This made Lance frown again, but not from sadness, more of determined expression. He grabbed the pouched of water, drawing the clear liquid back out and surrounded it around the cell door’s lock.

“Lance?” Keith asked,

“I’m going to get you out of here.” Lance said with a strict, steady voice, freezing the water, “I bet I can break-” He was cut off by Keith reaching through the bars and lightly gripping his hand. Lance looked at him.

“You shouldn’t. Everyone will know it was you and hunt you down.”

“Then we will just hide from them. Keep moving so they can’t catch us!”

Keith looked at him sincerely, “Do you seriously want to live your life like that?”

If Lance were honest with himself, he didn’t. The thought of always being on the run exhausted him, but he also really wanted to be with Keith. He looked down, conflicted. Keith lifted his hand to the ice around the lock, and melted it off with some bending.

“As your firebending master, I order you not to try and get me out of here.”

Lance still had his gaze pointed to the ground until he felt Keith’s fingers gently press against his chin, lifting it up ever so slightly to meet his dark stare, “I’ll be okay. I have a trial tomorrow.”

“Yeah, like that’s going to help. Lyn is going to make sure you stay in here!”

Keith gave a small shrug, “Then I’ll stay, as long as you’ll be able to visit I don’t think I’ll mind too much.” His lips curved gently into a smile that sent butterflies rushing through Lance’s stomach. He flushed, wanting so desperately to plant a kiss on his mouth right then and there.

There was a clatter down the hallway of keys and footsteps. Keith straightened himself and pulled his hand away from Lance’s face, “You should go,” He said, eyes peering down the hallway. Lance knew he was probably right, but that didn’t make leaving him hurt any less. He closed his eyes and stood up, lifting his satchel onto his shoulder. Keith pulled himself up as well, leaning half of his body weight against the bars. Lance stared at him quietly for half a second, taking in the scene of Keith standing their, hurt, behind bars, and forced to sleep of that cold, stone floor. He wanted to absorb every little detail, every emotion leaking out through Keith’s subtle expression. How his muscles tried to twitch away from the pain in his back that Lyn put there….Lyn.

“Hey, you gotta finish up,” A voice called behind him.

Lance turned to see one of the guards looking at him from down the hallway, he looked down, “Yeah.” He said weakly and started walking out, leaving Keith alone, cold, and in the dark.

 

The next day, Lance woke up early, well, woke up is a very weak definition for what he went through. In reality he never really fell asleep, yet felt more awake than ever when he stormed into Lyn’s early morning lessons. The old man was standing over a table, filling out some paperwork. He lifted his head to face Lance, and grew a look of surprise.

“You are here on time...That never happens.”

Lance said nothing. Inside he was boiling over with rage just at the sight of him. The image of Keith in that horrible cell still imprinted in his mind. Lyn tapped the papers against the wooden table, his small eyes still staring at the Avatar, “Why so early, Lance?”

“What are you planning to do with Keith?”

Lyn’s whole figure seemed to take in and let out a sigh of annoyance at the sound of Keith’s name. “That trouble maker will finally get what he deserves, That’s all I can say.” He moved past Lance, sliding the door open, “Now if you'll excuse me, I need to deliver these before we-” Lance grabbed his arm, and held him there. Lyn’s head snapped around to be greeted by Lance’s glaring face.

“What are you planning to do with Keith?” He repeated. This time it was harsher and more threatening.

Lyn stared at him for a second, then pried his arm away before he patted out his robes, “If you wish to know, come to the trial later this evening, and do not ever grab your master again.” He hissed.

Lance’s glare hardened, “You’re not my master.” He muttered.

He was pleased to see Lyn’s face twist in shock as well as anger. The old man then knitted his thick brows together and held up the papers in his his hand, “Well, then I guess I should inform you that neither will Hunk be by the end of the day.”

Lance’s eyes widened, “What?”

Lyn waved the paper a little, “These are the forms stating that your earthbending teacher, Hunk Garett, is not fit to continue as your master.”

Lance’s jaw dropped, this can’t be happened, “On what charges?!”

Lyn smiled with a sickening grin while tucking the papers safely in his robes, then folded his arms, “For claiming to take his student to train but in reality taken him to a circus. In turn promoting rebellious behavior which is not something a master should not teach his student.”

Lance started shaking his head frantically, “N-no! Please, that was my idea! I convinced-”

“If Hunk truly was a good master than he would have been strong and refused to take you at all.”

This wasn’t happening, Lyn had lost his mind! Surely he had no right to do this.

“Tell me Avatar Lance, who was you’re waterbending teacher?”

Lance clenched his fists, “My mother!” He said through his teeth, “What?! You planning to disown me from her?!”

“And you’re airbending teacher?”

That was it, Lance snapped, “You can’t decide who trains me! I am the Avatar! Who teaches me the elements should be my decision! Not yours!” He got up in his face, “In fact, I should be the one filling out that damn paper work to get rid of you!”

Lyn was still smiling, which just made Lance feel sick, “Well, seeing how you have been behaving, it is obvious your previous teachers hadn’t set a good enough example for you, and in turn, you are in no position to decide.” Lance was in complete shock, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Lyn smirked at him and started to walk out. “Practice your breathing while I’m gone.” he called over his shoulder, but Lance was already breathing. He was taking in fast and angry breaths. He felt like his entire body was boiling with pure frustration and rage. Before he knew it, he had bolted out of the room, turn to face the back of Lyn’s thin walking figure, and with a shout, punched his arm forward, shooting out a stream of hot fire at the back of his head. Lyn quickly turned around, gasped, then lifted his hand to defuse the attack. Lance desperately wanted to shoot more, and he probably would have, if Lyn hadn’t stared at him, straightened his posture, and in with a totally straight expression, say “I accept.”


	10. A Final Deal

Lance never intended to propose an agni kai, but here he was, at the arena, preparing to fight his ex firebending master. He had to admit, he was in shock. He knew he was not fit to fight Lyn. That fire he conjured up earlier had been the first and only time he managed to make a flame of that much power.

 

“What are the terms to the fight?” One man asked, peering at both Lance and Lyn.

 

Lyn spoke first, “If I win, then the Avatar will remain under my tutoring, and will also hire a new earthbending master.” The man nodded, then turned to Lance.

 

“Uh…” He swallowed hard, his mind had gone foggy, his body felt numb. Where was he again? Oh, right, He was about to face off against a firebending master in an agni kai…

 

“...If I win,” he started, getting cut off by the sound of struggling behind him, he turned to see a few men dragging Keith toward the outside of the ring. His hands were cuffed behind his back and was forced to his knees. He groaned in pain, then managed to lift his head up to Lance. His eyes were wide, and filled to the brim with concern. Lance stared at him then looked at Lyn, “What is Keith doing here?”

 

Lyn smirked, “It shouldn’t take too long to beat you, so I asked the guards to bring him up so we can continue the trail immediately after,” His eyes then drifted over to him, “I also wanted him to witness this fight for very personal reasons.”

 

Keith shot the old man a deadly glare over hearing him. Lance tightened his fists and spoke, this time he was perfectly clear, “If I win, I want Lyn to retire as my teacher and for the charges against my earthbending master, Hunk Garett, to be pardoned.”

 

The man gave a small nod then stepped back. Lance suddenly felt all his senses come back under his control. Lyn had made a huge mistake. His need for restoring some pride only strengthened Lances motivation win.

 

They both walked to either side of the court, backs to each other and kneeling down on one knee. Lance kept his head down and eyes peering at the ground, but only for a moment, before he lifted them to look up at Keith, who was already staring at him. Lance tried to crack a reassuring smile, but it didn’t seem to calm Keith down any. The chime of the bell rang, and Lance got to his feet, turning to face Lyn. He took a fighting stance, and Lance mimicked his movements. There was a drawn out moment of silence before Lyn made the first move. He punched his arm forward, letting out a wave of fire in Lance’s direction. Lance panicked for a short second, and jumped out for the way, tempted to use his airbending, but this was an Agni Kai, and he was going to stick to tradition. Just firebending.

 

Lyn attacked again, this time kicking his leg up, then throwing his arm out to send two bursts of hot fire. Lance dodged one then managed to catch the other just like how Keith had trained him to, and threw it around his own body to direct back at Lyn. The old man caught the flame and dispersed it quickly.

 

“Hm, perhaps that little rat has taught you a few tricks, but not enough to beat me.” He punched out his fist again at Lance’s head, which he quickly moved out of the way only to run right into a second fire ball that scorched his leg. “AGH!” He yelled, falling to his knee, grabbing at it.

 

AT this point Hunk, Allura and Shay had shown up and were horrified at what they saw.

 

“Oh my god, What the hell is happened?” Hunk yelled.

 

“Lyn is being a fucking psychopath is what’s happened!” Keith replied.

 

“Lance!” Allura yelled out, seeing his burnt leg.

 

Lance looked up to see them but then heard the yell from Lyn behind him and jumped to his feet spinning around just in time to see a cloud of flames heading straight for him. He closed his eyes tight and crossed his arms, trying to bend the flames away. For the most part it worked, though the heat around him was still extremely intense and he was already drenched in sweat. Lyn gave him no time to recover, charging at him with another series of attacks. Lance dodged the first three, but the fourth came as a surprise and Lyn kicked his heel into Lance’s chest. He flew back, landing hard on his back, coughing.

 

“Lance!” Keith called out to him.

 

Lance swallowed and slowly pushed his torso up off the ground.

 

“The seven steps!” Keith yelled.

 

Lance stared at him for a moment then realized what he was referring to. The seven poses Keith had taught him. It was then that he realized Lyn had been using them on Lance for the entire fight, just in different orders. Lance took a deep breath and got up.

 

“Ok...You can do this.” Lance whispered to himself, taking the first stance, trying to remember everything Keith had taught him. Lyn took a similar pose and conjured up some flames. He punched them all at him to which Lance watched approach then quickly shifted to the second pose, which was a low one. He gave a small smile before moving into the third pose which was a leg attack. He shot out a fairly decent flame that took Lyn off guard and he staggered back. Lance started to grow more confident seeing Lyns shocked expression and moved into the fourth pose, stabbing both fists forward. Two golden streams of fire flew out from his fists that Lyn just barely managed to avoid.

 

Keith’s eyes started to light up and a proud, excited grin spread across his face, “Keep going!”

 

Lyn shot out another basic attack which Lance avoided easily by shifting into the fifth pose which was also a breath attack, then almost immediately shifting to six, which was the handstand, with a leg swipe in midair. It was almost perfect and his flames were strong enough to push Lyn back, nearly falling over. Lance used the momentum in his legs to flip back onto his feet and fire off the last attack, which was a simple punch. It hit Lyn’s shoulder and he yelled, grabbing at it. Lance blinked and his smile grew even more confident, soon enough he was moving through the seven steps again, even more fluid and powerful than before.

 

Soon Lyn’s initial shock started to subside and the moves became more familiar to him.

 

“How dare that circus freak show you my technique!”

 

Lance glared, “It’s not like you were ever going to!”

 

In his rage, Lyn flicked his wrists and set his entire arms on fire. Lance took an uneasy step back, but left his hands raised, ready to defend. Lyn yelled and charged at him, his breath on fire as well. Lance had never seen Lyn like this before, it was like he was an entirely different person.

 

Lance frantically conjured up some fire of his own and tried shooting it at the mad man. Lyn dodged the first by shifting the direction of his run. Lance followed him with another series of shots that began to circle him until Lyn was close enough to deliver a hard blow into Lance’s chest, just like how he had the day before at the circus. Lance landed hard on his back, and began coughing, realizing Lyn just performed the same chi blocking method. Lance could hardly move, and just started coughing. It took an extreme amount of effort to roll over, and grip the burn mark at the center of his chest.

 

“That’s it Avatar Lance!” Lyn yelled walking over to him. His arms were still burning and his eyes looked completely insane.

 

“What is he doing?” Allura yelled in concern, even the officials took an uneasy step forward. Lance was the Avatar, so death for him was not an option, but something seemed to snap inside Lyn’s head. He wasn’t himself. He looked more evil than normal.

 

“Get Lance out of there!” Keith screamed at one of the guards standing by, but they just froze. Obviously conflicted on which orders to stick to.

 

Lyn was now standing over Lance’s limp body. “I’ll be glad to get rid of the world's most pathetic Avatar ever to walk it!”

 

Lyn lifted his arms over his head, preparing to strike Lance in the back.

 

“NO!!” Keith screamed.

 

Lyn dropped his arms…

 

Everyone hadn’t blinked, they were sure of that, but for some reason, everything seemed to freeze. Lyn’s attack never made contact with Lance’s back. Instead a sudden dome of fire appeared around Lance’s body not only blocking the mad man’s attack, but pushing him back a little. Lyn staggered, nearly toppling over.

 

“Wha..” He said, staring at Lance’s body as the fire dome quickly dispersed.

 

Everyone watched, especial Keith, as Lance slowly pushed his torso up off the ground then just sat there for a second. His eyes then shot open, looking over at Lyn with an intense glow that only an Avatar can create. He swung his legs under his body creating a wave of fire in the process and shot it at the old man, followed by two more before he finally jumped to his feet. Lyn yelped and staggered back further, falling to the ground.

 

“Oh god…” Hunk muttered.

 

“He’s in the Avatar State isn’t he,” Allura said.

 

Hunk nodded as he watched Lance walk over to Lyn, swiping his hand through the air sending dozens of precise fire attacks at his ex-master. He then conjured up a massive two handed attack that formed a stream of flames which he strengthened by bringing them to his mouth and blowing, not with airbending, just fire. Lyn tried deflecting it, but it didn’t do any good. Lance just ran at him, kicking him with another fire attack in the gut. Lyn fell back, and when he looked up, Lance’s entire body appeared to be on fire, and he was only making the flames grow hotter and larger. Lyn’s eyes grew wide as he started to really take in the reality of the situation. He immediately went to his knees and bowed.

 

“Forgive me Avatar! Please spare me! I didn’t know what I was doing!”

 

Lance just stared at him with those powerful eyes, not speaking a word. He took a deep breath and started moving his arms slowly in a circle, extending his pointer and middle finger out on both hands. Sparks began to fly and slowly lightning started to form around his arms.

 

“Oh no..” Allura gasped, covering her mouth.

 

“Lan-” Hunk started to yell, but before he could finish, Keith pushed the two guards around him away and bolted out into the arena, hands still tied.

 

“Keith!” Hunk screamed.

 

Keith didn’t stop, He ran right up until he was only a few feet away, and shouted, “Lance!”

 

Lance’s head snapped over at him, eyes still glowing intensely.

 

Keith couldn’t help but jump a little at how frightening he appeared with that powerful glare, but he forced himself to take a deep breath and remain calm, “Take it easy, It’s me, Keith.”

 

There was no sign of recognition as the lightning flickered around Lance’s body.

 

“Listen. I know you hate him right now, I do too...but I’m pretty sure I know you well enough to know you’re not a murderer.”

 

The glowing eyes didn’t move away or blink, they just stared blindly at Keith, to which the firebender just hardened his stare. “I’m making a deal with the Avatar.”

 

This seemed to spark some faint memory in Lance, because his body shifted a little to adjust his gaze on Keith.

 

“If you let him live, I will leave the circus and become your firebending master...Permanently.”

 

Lance didn’t move, he still looked threatening with the lightning and fire flashing all around him, but despite that Keith’s face grew a smile, “I heard making a deal with the Avatar can be risky, but I’ll take my chances.”

 

Now Lance’s eyes softened and his mouth opened from a stern frown to recognition. His gaze slowly turned back to Lyn who was still cowering on the ground. The lightning released into the air with a sharp zap and the fire around his body died down. Next were his eyes. The white glow very slowly faded out, and as soon as the light had completely vanished, Lance let out a weak groan and his knees buckled underneath him. Keith dashed forward, catching his body with his chest and shoulders then slowly lowering him to the ground.

 

By this time Hunk and Allura sprinted over to them and immediately started looking over Lance to make sure he was okay. The officials went to Lyn, dragging him to his feet and handcuffing him immediately. When Keith lifted his head to watch them drag the old man away, he noticed his eyes still held a look of shock. He turned his head and stared back at Keith. His mouth hung open, but nothing ever came out.


	11. A New Beginning

Everything was black at first, but soon he could hear muffled voices ringing in his ears. One he knew by heart as Allura’s. The second took him a few seconds to realize it was Hunk. As their words became more clear to him, the more inclined he felt to lift his eyelids and taking in the view around him.

It was bright, almost painfully so. He had to blink a few times and eventually the pain relaxed into a dull ache. Taking in more visual information, Lance was able to deduce that he was lying in bed, the window to his left was open, proving it to be either early morning to mid day, and sitting on either side of his bed was the beautiful northern tribe princess and his best friend. He blinked a few more times before deciding to get their attention.

“If I’m dead then they really need to work on their angles. It looks like one didn’t come out so good.” He slurred, eyeing Hunk.

His friend was too relieved to be pissed and gasped grinning, “Lance!” He yelled, scoping the slender boy up into his buff arms. Allura smiled brightly seeing Lance weakly return the gesture.

“You really had us worried.” She admitted.

When Hunk released Lance, he started to try and remember why he was there, but when he couldn’t he grew concerned. “Uh...What happened?”

“Do you not remember anything?” Hunk asked.

Lance looked down at the bed covers, trying hard to recall any little details, “I remember the agni kai, and fighting Lyn but...Halfway through I blacked out.”

Hunk couldn’t help but lightly chuckle, “Yeah, that would be because you went into the Avatar State mid-battle.”

Lance stared at him in a sort of daze for a few seconds before the words really registered. “I...Wait really?!”

Allura nodded, “You almost did something drastic, but thankfully Keith was there to draw you out.”

“Keith?” Lance’s face lit up a little at the sound of his name, “Where is he?” He asked quickly.

“He’s um...Busy.” Hunk said, exchanging knowing looks with Allura.

Lance grew worried, but just as he was about to ask for clarification, Allura placed her hand on his shoulder, “Don’t worry. He isn’t in any trouble.”

This seemed to calm him down enough to lead him into his next question, “And Lyn?”

“In prison. You don’t have to worry about him anymore.” Hunk said with a smile.

Lance couldn’t help but beam wildly at the news, “What about the charges against you?”

Hunk smirked, “You mean these?” He asked, pulling out a few papers tucked away in his pocket. He then proceeded to tear them in half. “Don’t exist anymore, you’re still stuck with me.”

Lance sighed, “Oh thank god.”

Hunk let out a short laugh to which Allura joined in. Lance just smiled at him then down at his own hands which were resting on his lap.

“...And...I’ll need to get a new Firebending teacher...Right?” He asked, eyeing Hunk, obviously hoping for a specific answer.

Hunk gave him a gentle smile, “Remember how we said Keith was busy?”

 

* * *

 

Lance, covered in a few bandages here and there bolted through the royal palace halls, nearly running into a few advisors along the way. He had an excited grin plastered across his face, finding himself unable to alter it. He came to an abrupt stop catching a glimpse of him through one of the tall, open windows. He was walking casually through the courtyard, his black hair hung loose and flared out at the tips. Lance’s grin grew wider and he sprinted down the series of steps laid out in front of him.

Keith was wearing an official, yet personally fitted, firebending master get up. His eyes were glued to a scroll he had in one hand while the other was gripping a large brown pack he had slung across his shoulder.

“Nice outfit you got there.”

Keith froze, and turned in the direction of the voice to see Lance leaning against a thin cherry blossom tree. Keith’s face broke into a smile, “Lance,”

Lance smiled and started over to him, “So I heard a rumor that you’re getting a new job?”

Keith smirked, “Yeah.” He lifted up the scroll he had been reading. Lance leaned over to get a better look at it.

“Huh, Firebending Master? Who’da thought. May I ask who your amazing pupil will be?” Lance asked with a slightly dramatic tone to his voice.

“The Avatar actually. Pretty demanding job I’ve heard. Apparently he’s a pretty obnoxious self-centered guy that sucks at firebending. Do you know him?”

Lance’s expression dropped to complete unamusement. “No, but I’m getting a vibe that he doesn’t want you anymore.”

Keith snickered, “Too bad, I made a deal with him, and there’s no going back on a deal with the Avatar.”

Lance stared at him, then scratched the back of his head. “Hey uh...All goofing aside, I heard about what you did.”

Keith looked at him with a slightly more sincere expression.

“And I just wanna say, thanks. I can’t imagine what I must have looked like.” Lance said, looking down a little.

Keith stared at him for a moment, then gave a gentle smile. “Don’t mention it. Just looking out for my pupil.”

Lance smiled at him, feeling himself start to slip into a trance thanks to Keith’s dark violet eyes. Before he knew it, Keith leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth gently. Lance lightly blushed, not expecting it, but continued to smile.

“Besides,” Keith started, “You looked kinda hot being all badass like that.”

“Really?!” Lance laughed.

Keith smirked and started walking. Lance quickly followed after.

“Well, if we’re passing around compliments, I must admit I’m gonna miss seeing you in that sexy, shirtless get up you had for the circus.”

“Who says you won’t see me shirtless again?”

Lance suddenly stopped walking, blushing wildly while Keith kept strolling ahead, eventually looking over his shoulder, “You coming or what?”

“U-uh...Yeah!” Lance smiled and darted forward, catching up to his new firebending master.


End file.
